Eyes Like a Hurricane
by Living Masquerade
Summary: Sadie's summer was already turning out to be a hard one; her sister was getting married to a man from Washington, she needed to find a job, and a rather large muscular man seemed to have a problem with her. Paul/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Blink-182**

**I hope you guys like this story. It's been a while since I've written a fanfic due to my increased class load and the story of my own imagination I've been working on. Anyway, tell me what you think so I know whether to keep going.**

* * *

"_All the small things_

_Truth care truth brings,_

_I'll take one lift, your ride, best trip."_

**All the Small Things**

* * *

I had been born with my best friend; at least that's how our Mom explained it to us. We weren't identical which meant that we were no more similar than any regular sibling pair but we had both recognized from a young age that we had a special bond between us. It wasn't any of that freaky 'I feel pain when you do' stuff but more of an understanding. Sometimes it only took a look between the two of us to convey everything we were thinking. And we did tend to finish each other's sentences; something that drove our Mom crazy.

So it was very hard for us to go to completely different colleges. I couldn't understand why she went all the way to Washington while I was content to attend our own State college. Thousands of miles separated us for four years and finally after the two of us graduated I had a feeling things were going to change.

Only I didn't think they would change in the way they were.

* * *

Beside me Mom was asleep, which left me with the responsibility of navigator as well as driver. I didn't mind; for the past few hours she had talked nonstop about the upcoming summer in Washington. I was happy for my sister but I'd be lying if I said a piece of me wasn't at least a tiny bit resentful. The plans I had been planning for months for graduation had all been shattered when my twin called me up with her news.

"_Sadie! Guess what?!"_

_I chewed on my pretzel thoughtfully before I replied, "You finally hit a pedestrian on your bike?"_

_She laughed, "No, but it was close. But that's not my news! It's the greatest thing, Sadie."_

"_Well just tell me then, Cady!" I said, filled with excitement._

_She sounded so happy and in return I couldn't help but feel excited as well. We hadn't had much excitement in our lives since our Dad left so whenever these occasions arose it was hard not to respond._

"_Seth proposed!"_

"_Oh my gosh!" I yelled happily._

And I had been very happy for my twin for the remainder of the call and it hadn't beenfake happiness either. Cady had met Seth Clearwater in her second year at University of Washington and they had fallen in love fast. I had laughed at her when she first told me about him; how he might be 'the one' but after I met him I began to believe her. So, I guess I wasn't too surprised that he had proposed to her. But I was surprised when I realized that her engagement meant she would never be coming back home.

"Mom, we're there." I said as I shook her awake.

Her green eyes snapped open, eyes just like Cady's. I, on the other hand, had been left with a combination of my Mom's startling green eyes and my Dad's chocolate brown eyes; which meant my eyes were hazel. Our eyes were really the only significant difference between us besides our size. Cady was a few inches shorter than I was and her face was a bit rounder. Otherwise we looked very much like what people expected twin sisters to look like.

The house we pulled up in front of was a nice little blue one story that I knew from talking to Cady was Seth's house. At one point it had been his older sister's, but a year ago she had moved away to live in Seattle, leaving the house to her younger brother. Now the house was to be my sister's home and where Mom and I were staying for the entire summer.

Our summer was going to be spent planning the wedding that had been scheduled for August twenty fifth and since it was already May twenty fourth we really only had three months.

Mom and I had barely gotten out of the car before Cady ran out of the house with a wide smile on her face. Seth followed behind her at a leisurely pace with a matching smile and even though I had seen him before I was still struck dumb for a minute. He was all man; there was no doubt about that. Compared to my sister he was a giant; standing at 6'5" compared to my sister's 5'2" frame. Not only did he tower over all of us Harrison's but he had muscles to match.

Cady threw herself into Mom's arms first leaving me to confront my future brother-in-law first.

"Hey Sadie." He smiled.

"Hey Seth; nice house."

"Thanks, you should see what your sister has already done to the inside." Seth replied, his gaze straying to where Cady and Mom were talking excitedly about wedding plans. It was easy to see how much Seth loved her, if the adoration in his eyes was any indication. I didn't know him that well, but I knew enough to recognize that he and my sister were perfect together.

"Sadie!" Cady finally yelled before launching herself into my arms.

I threw my own arms around her just as tight and the two of us started giggling as we held each other close. At that moment when we were so close it was like no one else was around, in fact we didn't even notice when Seth and Mom took the bags into the house.

"Oh Sadie, you will not believe what Seth has done for me since he proposed; he's wonderful!"

"Have you guys had sex yet?" I asked knowingly.

I pulled back far enough to see that my sister's face was beat red which was all the indication I needed to know that the two of them had engaged in intimate relations.

"How big is he?"

"Sadie!" She blushed.

"Come on, Cady, he's a big man! Is his body disproportionate or is he endowed?"

She sighed with a silly grin on her face, "He's definitely not disproportionate."

"Somehow I didn't think he would be." I laughed.

"Enough about me, Mom was telling me about some guy asking you out." Cady grinned.

I rolled my eyes and suppressed a shudder. I knew she was talking about that Lyle guy. He was creepy to say the least. He had followed me around campus my last year of college and finally approached me in the library during finals week.

"He is a creeper; he practically stalked me. So of course I said no." I explained. "You should know by now that I only attract creepers or losers."

It was her turn to roll her eyes at me, "Who knows what this summer will bring?"

* * *

For a small looking house, I was surprised to see that there were three bedrooms, which meant that I didn't have to share with Mom as previously feared. I loved my Mom and all, but she snorted in her sleep and had the tendency to be a blanket hog. I was also surprised with what Cady had done with the place, as Seth had said. Everything looked like it had a new coat of paint and there were new appliances in the kitchen.

Seth, I knew, came from a not so wealthy home, like us. But he had certainly made something for himself. He was a year older than the two of us, so while Cady had been finishing her last year of college he had established himself as a businessman. He and his Mom had opened a restaurant and judging from what Cady said I knew that it was a success.

"So what do you think of the room?" Cady asked from the doorway.

I took another look around the sage green room. It reminded me of a room from a long time ago; our Mom's old dressing room in a house we had left a long time ago. A room that we had done a lot of playing…mostly with Mom's makeup and shoes.

"It reminds me of another room we used to know."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Mom says you found a job as an administrative assistant at the high school in Forks?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah, I had originally wanted a job at the tribal school, but they just didn't need anyone. Forks isn't too far away though. What about you?"

"Still looking…although I am regretting my career path at the moment."

"Everyone needs an accountant at some point of their life, Sadie. You'll be fine." She assured me. "Anyway, we have a busy day tomorrow. First the three of us are going to find me a wedding dress and then tomorrow night there's a bon fire at the beach where you guys are going to meet everyone."

"Who is everyone?"

"His friends and their families, not to mention his Mom. His sister won't be coming until the day before the wedding so it'll be a while before you meet her."

"They all like you don't they?"

Cady smiled, "Yeah, they're pretty great people. I'm sure they'll like you too. Just make sure you get whatever food you want before the guys are allowed near it otherwise you won't get any at all."

"Um…okay."

"Don't worry, you'll love them."

* * *

I had forgotten just how much torture shopping with Mom was and I was pretty sure Cady was feeling the same way. She was relentless. I was exhausted after one hour and I wasn't the one that had to try on everything Mom kept flinging over the dressing room door. I was thankful that we would not be looking for my maid of honor dress, that day of torture was scheduled for next week.

"She's killing me." Cady moaned as she plopped down beside me on the couch in the waiting area of the bridal shop.

"I forgot how bad she was." I agreed.

"Me too."

"Cady! I have another one for you!"

We groaned in unison but at least I got to remain on the couch while Cady stood up to try on yet another wedding dress. So far the dresses had been too trashy, too white, too frilly, too puffy, and overall not 'the one' according to Mom.

"This is the one guys and I don't care what you say, Mom, I'm buying it." Cady announced as she stepped out of the dressing room.

Once I saw her I knew that Mom wasn't about to stop her from buying the dress. It was perfect for her. It hugged her curves in all the right places and made her waist look even smaller than it already was. The train and bodice was embroidered with flowers, and the veil she had on her head only served to further her look as a princess.

"You actually look like you stepped out of one of our old books." I said with a smile.

"I know right?"

"Oh Cady! Wait until Seth sees you in that dress!"

Cady and I exchanged a look that clearly stated that she couldn't wait until she had that dress off in front of him after the actual wedding ceremony.

* * *

I wasn't really sure why I had readily agreed to be the one to go pick up the groceries we needed to take to the bon fire. I didn't know where the store was and I certainly didn't know where anything was in the store. Yet here I was searching the baking aisle for some freaking canola oil. One would think it would be easy to find, but not here in Forks.

I looked up from my search of the bottom shelf to the sight of an abandoned cart in the middle of the aisle way. Normally I wouldn't have paid much attention to it, but the fact that a baby carrier was situated within the cart caught my attention. Not only was there a baby carrier, but from the little baby hand waving in the air I knew there was a baby in there. Who the hell left a baby alone in a grocery store? Small towns have their fare share of villains; some even sicker than those residing in the city.

The canola oil forgotten I hurried over to the cart and peered down at the baby. She seemed content enough nestled inside her carrier in a pink outfit complete with a little bow in what little hair she had. Granted the bow was askew, but otherwise she looked completely fine.

"Where's your Mommy?" I found myself asking even though I knew I wasn't about to receive a reply.

"What are you doing?" A deep male voice asked from behind me.

I turned around fully engaged for battle to find the most startling man I had ever seen in my life. Not startling in a bad way, just the opposite. He was gorgeous in a ruggedly handsome way of course. His skin told me that he must be from the reservation and judging by the height and muscles I knew he had to be related to Seth somehow.

"Someone left this baby alone." I finally choked out.

"She's fine." He stated, as his dark eyes bore into me intensely.

"Is she yours?" I asked.

"Yes, she is." He replied defensively.

"Well, I may not have children of my own, sir, but I know better than to leave a child unattended in a public place; especially a baby."

"I don't need to explain myself to you."

I huffed, "For her sake, I hope you take better care next time."

And with that said I stormed off, the canola oil completely forgotten. Luckily when I got back they didn't even notice that I didn't have the oil. Really, how could any father leave their baby alone in a grocery store aisle! How could any father leave their child alone period?

So I may have taken some old anger out on the guy in the grocery store because I had what people would call 'Daddy issues'. Both Cady and I did. And the issue at the grocery store had definitely hit close to home for me.

I remained quiet until we all arrived at the beach where it seemed that everyone was already. I had to admit that I was nervous, I always was when it came to this kind of stuff but not only because I was shy. It also had to do with the fact that I was afraid that they would automatically assume Cady and I were just alike. Not that that's a bad thing, but as twins that were often mistaken for identical from unperceptive people, that always seemed to be the outcome. Cady likes sweet pickles, so Sadie must too. Sadie loves the color red so Cady must too.

"You alright?" Cady asked knowingly.

"Just the normal."

"They won't do that to you; besides I've told them plenty of stories about you that show that we are not that alike."

I cracked a smile despite the fact that she had been telling who knows what kind of stories to these people I was about to meet. Stories like our first concert weren't too bad, but if she got close to the turtle incident than that was definitely bad.

"Guys, I want you to meet my Mom and my sister, Sadie." Cady announced to the large group of people gathered on logs around the bon fire.

"The turtle girl!" One of them yelled enthusiastically, causing the others to laugh in response.

Oh dearest Cady, pay back is a bitch.

"You told them about that?" I hissed.

"Now now, Sadie." Mom warned before Seth pulled her away to introduce to his Mother.

I turned back to Cady to find her smiling at me like an idiot. I chose to keep my mouth shut about the issue for now and instead rolled my eyes at her before I turned my attention to the people around the fire.

"I prefer the name, Sadie."

"Don't worry, Sadie. Seth has told us plenty embarrassing stories about Cady." A rather large guy (well all of them were large) said as he walked towards me with his hand extended. "I'm Embry."

I shook his hand and in the next second his arm was around my shoulders and he was taking me down the line of people introducing me to each and every one of them, even the kids. I smiled at each of them and logged their names and relations into my memory, hoping that I would at least remember names.

"And this is Paul."

My eyes locked with the same pair I had been facing off against a few hours earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Sum 41**

**Thanks for all of the responses already! I will be continuing this, but as of right now I have no idea how it is going to turn out. Who knows? I might surprise you all; especially with the thoughts I have been having about this story. I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out :D**

* * *

"_Seems like each time _

_I'm with you I lose my mind_

_because I'm bending over backwards to relate"_

**In Too Deep**

* * *

"You."

"You!" I yelled in reply.

"Whoa, what's going on here? You guys know each other?" Embry asked obviously amused at the little face off we were having.

"You're Cady's sister?" He asked in a way that made me wonder whether I should be offended or not.

"You know Seth?"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Cady asked with a forced smile. She knew how agitated I was already and she hadn't even seen my face.

"This guy," I began as I angrily pointed in Paul's direction, "and I had a little confrontation in the grocery store when he left his infant daughter alone in a carrier in a shopping cart!"

"Daughter?" Embry and Cady interrupted with amused looks on their faces.

"You are the busy body that put her nose in where it doesn't belong." Paul countered.

"Just because this is a small town does not mean that there aren't the type of people around that would take your baby. What does her mother think about that huh?"

If it was possible, Paul's face grew even darker as both Cady and Embry's giggles abruptly stopped and suddenly I was wondering if yelling at this guy I hardly knew was a good idea.

"She's dead." And with that he stormed away, his hands shaking.

Yeah, I had definitely crossed a line. I usually wasn't like that, but there was just something about him and this situation that seemed to bring out the worst in me.

"Sadie." Cady sighed. "Let me tell you something."

I nodded as she grabbed my hand and led me away from the group. The laughter was distant now and the heat of the fire no longer touched my skin, causing me to shiver in the cool night air.

"I can't believe I did that." I groaned.

"The baby you saw Paul with…she's his niece. Paul's older sister and her husband were killed last month in an accident and left Paul with the baby. So for right now he's alone in raising her until her other guardian finishes up his graduate work. Paul's had a hard time adjusting, but he really does love her, Sadie. I know that what you saw probably looked pretty bad, but I know he would never let anything happen to her; he's just that kind of guy."

Wow… I felt like a total douche.

"I need to apologize to him."

"Right now may not be the best time to do that. But for now let's go get some food and have fun."

I really did try to have fun and for a while I did, laughing with Seth's friends and enjoying some pretty good food. But then Paul returned to the fire and Emily immediately handed him what I knew now to be his niece, Grace. Grace had to be the cutest baby I had ever seen, given my limited contact with babies. She was chubby all over and with her big dark brown eyes it was easy to see why most of the guys around the fire fawned over her. Especially Paul.

Once she was in his arms she smiled up at him and slapped a hand against his chest happily. I watched as he smiled in return before planting a kiss on her forehead; yet again cementing the fact that I was a total douche bag.

With that in mind I stood up and made my way over to where he sat with Grace in his arms. He looked up as I approached, his eyes a mixture of emotions. He didn't look angry, but that may have been because he had a baby in his arms.

"I know you probably don't want to be anywhere near me right now, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I honestly don't know what came over me…well that's a lie. I do know what came over me, but it wasn't about you. That situation just brought up some old issues and I had no right to take them out on you. So yet again I'm sorry."

Paul didn't say anything at all, instead he just looked into my eyes and I found that I couldn't look away. Maybe if he looked enough he would realize just how bad I felt about what happened. Just when his penetrating gaze was starting to get to me, he finally spoke.

"You're definitely not like Cady."

I almost asked why, but in the next second he was already answering my unspoken question.

"She would never stand up to someone she doesn't know about something she obviously feels passionately about."

* * *

We hadn't heard from him in over ten years. My sister and I liked to pretend that we had reached the point where we didn't care anymore, but we both know that wasn't true. But it was easy to pretend when we didn't need him, so when the time came along that we did…it was like we were transported back in time to that day.

So when I found Cady curled up on the couch crying, clutching a picture of Dad holding the two of us as toddlers, I knew she was having one of those moments. Seth had already left for work and I was pretty sure Mom was in the shower, leaving the two of us alone in the living room.

"Hey." I said softly.

Cady looked up and wiped the stray tears off her face, "Who's going to walk me down the aisle?"

I sat down next to her and slung my arm around her shoulders, "Don't worry about that, I'll find you someone much worthier to walk you down the aisle to Seth."

"Thanks, Sadie."

"No problem. Now go clean up before Mom walks in and demands to know what's going on."

She chuckled before she stood up with the picture and disappeared back into her room. I sat there for a minute before I realized I had no idea who could walk Cady down the aisle. Our Mom was an only child and we had had no contact with Dad's family in years, so Uncles were out. I would have to find someone on the reservation, someone besides Seth that she loved to be around.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of the phone. I sat there while it rang once, twice, and three times. When it seemed that Cady wasn't going to answer it, I reached out and picked it up myself.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cady, I need Seth to look over some numbers for me."

"Uh, this is Sadie and Seth is at work. Can I ask who's calling?"

"Paul. Can you give my message to Seth?"

"Wait, did you say numbers?"

"Yeah."

"If you need help right away I could help you; I'm an accountant."

There was a long pause on the other line as he obviously thought it over. Even though I had apologized to him I didn't expect us to be all hunky dory or anything like that.

"Alright, come to 215 Pine Lane as soon as you can."

After I quizzed him about how to get there we hung up which left me to think about why I had offered my help in the first place. I obviously was not going to get paid since I volunteered my services like that and who knew if the two of us would get into a scuffle again or not?

"Where are you going?" Cady asked as I slipped on my shoes.

"To help Paul with some numbers."

One of her eyebrows shot up and she asked curiously, "Really?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

The walk to Pine Lane was a short one, thankfully since it happened to be raining outside. Paul's house was a small little two story, painted a cheerful yellow; setting it apart from the blues and grays I'd seen all over the place.

When Paul opened the front door, Grace was resting on his shoulder dressed in a onsie, drool dripping out of her mouth and onto the little blanket he had thrown over his shoulder. After I noticed the baby in his arms I took in just how disheveled and harassed he looked. His short black hair was sticking up in every direction, and his shirt was covered in food and throw up stains.

"Are you alright?" I asked gently.

"Yeah, I'm great."

"Liar." I said as I pushed past him into his house.

It was a mess of baby toys, shoes, and dirty dishes on the tables. He was definitely a mess and I felt like even more of a jerk for yelling at him last night.

"Listen before we start on those numbers you have for me, how about you go shower and I'll watch Grace and straighten things up around here?"

His face darkened, "That's not why I agreed to your help; I can take care of my house and niece."

"I'm not saying you can't, but I would feel much better knowing that I've done more than numbers for you."

When that didn't seem like it was going to crack him I pulled out the best puppy dog eyes I could muster and said simply: "Please?"

He huffed, "Fine."

Once he handed Grace over and headed up the stairs I set to work. I really didn't have much experience with babies, but Grace seemed to like me. After I changed her diaper, and put her in a little outfit I found folded in a laundry basket, I set her in the play pin in the corner of the living room and set to work cleaning up.

By the time Paul came down the stairs in a fresh pair of clothes and wet hair, Grace was sleeping soundly in the play pin and the whole downstairs looked completely different from when I had first stepped foot into the place.

"Thank you." Paul said quietly, so as to not wake the baby.

"No problem; now where are these numbers you have for me?"

He owned his own business, well more like he was his own boss. At first I was surprised, but once it became clear just what his business was it didn't surprise me too much. The picture of him in a tool belt renovating people's bathrooms and what not seemed completely natural for Paul Riverly.

"Everything seems to be in order; although if I were you I wouldn't be giving so many breaks to people."

"They're my friends."

"I understand that, but if you're not careful your kindness will be your financial loss." I pointed out gently. "I would also advice a better organization system."

"What's wrong with what I'm doing?" Paul asked defensively.

I rolled my eyes at him, "A shoebox is not organization."

"Well, I don't exactly have the time for organization."

The defensive tone in his voice was starting to hinge on anger, and that was not what I had intended at all. I was simply giving my professional opinion, just as I would to any other client.

"Look, I wasn't trying to insult you. In fact you don't have to do anything I suggested, but you'll be sorry."

"Then I'll be sorry!"

"Yeah I guess you will!" I yelled back before I stood up and stormed out of the house.

I seriously contemplated slamming the door, but I didn't want to wake up Grace. I was mad at the guy, but not that cruel. He was so defensive!

"You look like you ate something sour."

I looked up from where I had been muttering under my breath as I marched back to Cady and Seth's. Embry was at the end of the drive watching me with an amused smile on his face.

"What the hell is his problem?!"

"Paul's?"

"Yes, Paul's." I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

Embry chuckled, "You'll learn Paul's ways sooner or later."

"He had no right to get angry at me; I was just trying to offer him helpful suggestions."

Embry continued to laugh, "Oh Sadie, I have a feeling this summer is going to be pretty interesting for you, and entertaining for the rest of us."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Forever the Sickest Kids**

**Thanks again for all forms of response whether it be reviews, alerts, etc. They're appreciated.**

* * *

"_Can you say hey?_

_Can you say oh?_

_That's right, what do you want from me?_

_I get the feeling we're on to something_

_I say jump and you start jumping._

_Can you say hey?_

_Can you say oh?_

_That's right, what do you want from me?_

**What Do You Want From Me?**

* * *

I don't know how we managed it, but Cady and I were able to sneak away from Mom to pick out my dress for the wedding. Of course our escape wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for Mrs. Clearwater's perfect timing; that lady was really starting to grow on me.

It wasn't that we didn't value her opinion, but neither of us was ready for a repeat of what had happened last week when we found Cady's dress. Besides, Mom had already put in her input on the topic; she'd made it clear that I needed something to draw attention to my figure, preferably in a light blue. The two of us had just rolled our eyes at her; one: we already knew what kind of dress flattered me and two: the wedding color was light blue anyway.

"So, have you seen Paul lately?" Cady asked nonchalantly as we sorted through the racks of dresses in the little bridal shop we had bought her wedding dress at.

"Nope." I replied simply, popping the 'p' as I did so.

"Yeah, you two don't seem to get along so well do you?"

I sighed, "It's not my fault he gets so defensive about organization."

Cady snickered and I knew she was about to put her two cents in when I interrupted her by pulling out a strapless light blue gown. The two of us stood there for a minute looking the dress over. It gathered to one side of the waist, which I knew would make my waist look tiny as I had had a few prom dresses like that in the past. The skirt flowed nicely and the material wouldn't be too hot for an August wedding, or too cold considering the fact we were in one of the rainiest places in the United States.

"Go put it on." She finally urged.

I did as told and a few minutes later emerged from the changing room where my sister was waiting with a brilliant smile on her face.

"You look amazing."

"You better choose this one, Cady."

"Definitely, wait until Paul sees you in it."

I sucked in a breath, "What the hell does Paul have to do with my dress?"

Cady's only reply was a smirk and a wave of her hand that clearly stated that I needed to go back into the dressing room and change so we could buy the dress and go get some lunch. What a jerk. If it's not enough that she told all of them the turtle story, she now decides to have fun by making ludicrous assumptions to get me stirred up!

"Wipe that look off your face, Sadie, and let's get something to eat."

Jerk.

* * *

With the convenient excuse of a headache I had begged off from accompanying Mom and Cady to the florist shop. I liked flowers, but the scents they produced always succeeded in giving me a headache or a worse one in some cases. That was something I shared with my Father, at least according to my Mom. It was a trait that she always found annoying and always made a point to mention so.

"_You're not going?"_

"_It'll give me a worse headache." I replied as I watched the two of them put on their shoes from the comfort of the couch._

"_Just like _him_ I see." Mom scoffed. "Honestly, I can't even put on perfume without you coughing and keeping clear of me."_

_Cady's eyes met mine as Mom continued to mumble about flowers, perfumes, and the fact that he refused to ever wear her favorite cologne. Sadly, I was used to the acid in her voice when she compared me to him but just because I was used to it didn't mean it didn't hurt._

It wasn't even little things like that either. Even though Mom had kept her married name after the divorce papers were settled, via mail, she still liked to point out that the two of us were and would always be Harrisons. I was sure that even when Cady legally became a Clearwater, Mom would still point out that fact to her when she did something Mom considered 'Dad' like.

I was pulled out of my depressing musings by the sound of a knock on the door. I didn't even hesitate to stand up and walk over to the door of Seth's home here in this small town. If I had been in someone's house alone at home I would have pretended no one was home. You never knew who would be at your door there.

But when I pulled open the door I wished that I would have just stayed on the couch. It was Paul. He was holding a baby carrier and had a diaper bag slung over his shoulder. Despite the little bit of spit up on his bare forearm, he looked well put together, unlike the last time I had seen him.

"Can I help you?" I asked evenly.

"First, let me apologize for overreacting the other day." He began sincerely. "You were right; I do need to organize, so if you'll let me in I have a business offer to discuss with you."

My curiosity was seriously piqued now. A business offer for me? I stepped aside to let him in the house and closed the door behind him as he situated the carrier on the floor and himself on the couch.

"A business offer?"

"Yes." Paul nodded. "I'm sure by now you know Grace's story, and in the month I've been taking care of her I have had no work. But now I need to go back, but without the help of Hunter I don't know what to do with Grace. So that brings me to you. I need help not only with Grace, but with my finances and since you're an accountant and Grace seems to like you I thought you could be my nanny slash finance lady."

I sat there a moment and just stared at him, processing everything he just told me. Okay… so for a month he hadn't been working; that made sense since he had a baby to take care of and it made sense that he needed to get back to it now. But who the hell was Hunter and what did he have to do with taking care of Grace?

"Who is Hunter?" I asked suddenly.

I don't think he was expecting that question because he looked confused for a second before he finally replied, "Hunter is Grace's other uncle, her Father's brother. He's finishing up his graduate dissertation and I'm not sure when he'll be here to help me."

Okay, that made sense. Back to processing everything he told me. So he wanted me to watch Grace while he was at work _and_ organize his financial crap?

"Alright, so while you're at work you want me to watch Grace, do chores around the house and organize and manage your finances?"

"Hmm, I didn't think about the chores, but that sounds good to me." He shrugged.

"Okay, five days a week or what?"

I was seriously considering this. I mean…why not? I was going to be here for the entire summer and most of the wedding planning was being done by Mom and Cady; they didn't need me that much.

"Yes, but my hours vary each day."

I nodded in understanding; he was a contractor he worked on a job to job basis.

"How much are you willing to pay me?"

Paul sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Well since you'll really be doing two jobs I suppose I have to pay you a bit more."

"Got that right."

He chuckled, "Is ten dollars an hour good?"

"Twelve."

"Nope."

"Twelve."

"Ten fifty."

"Twelve."

"Eleven?"

"Eleven, with the chance of a raise to twelve." I smiled.

Paul rolled his eyes but nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I think we have a deal Mr. Riverly." I stated and stuck out my hand for him.

His large hand enclosed mine and gave it a quick pump before he let go and suddenly stood up.

"So, do you think you could start today?" He asked sheepishly. "Just watching Grace today though, starting tomorrow you need to come to the house."

"You sure were confident that I was going to agree."

He shrugged, "Well, I'm really only going to buy some supplies for Mrs. Crane's porch and I could've taken Grace, but since you agreed you guys can have some bonding time here in the comfort of your sister's home."

I glanced at the clock; it was already one in the afternoon. "Fine, when will you be back to get her?"

"Probably around three or four. Everything you'll need is in the bag, so I'll be going now."

"Okay."

"Have fun."

Just as the door shut behind him Grace let one rip before she giggled and looked up at me innocently. Oh this was going to be delightful.

After my time with Grace I realized that I was a natural with babies. It surprised me because I had mostly avoided babies up until this point, due to the fact that I thought I would be horrible with them. But after my three hours with Grace it became apparent to me that she and I would work just fine together. I may not be as natural as her own Mother would have been, but my own motherly instincts had kicked in as soon as she had smiled at me after I changed her diaper.

* * *

"You're working for Paul?" Cady asked with an amused smile on her face.

She wasn't the only one. Seth looked like he was trying to hold back his laughter, and Mom just looked confused as she twirled her spaghetti around her fork. Hell, I probably would have laughed too if someone told me that I would be working for Paul yesterday when I was still pretty annoyed with him. But here I was now; his nanny slash finance lady.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Wait. Explain how this all came about, please." Seth said, trying not to chuckle too much.

I shot him a look before I complied with his request, "After Mom and Cady left today he came over and immediately apologized for his rude behavior. And then he hit me with a business proposition. And now I am Grace's nanny and his finance lady."

"How much is he paying you?"

"Eleven an hour, but I'm sure that he'll see that it's only fair to give me a raise after a few weeks."

Seth couldn't hold in his laughter this time, "I can't wait to see that go down."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively.

Cady smirked, "He means that you two rub each other the wrong way."

"He doesn't rub me the wrong way all the time, so I'm more than happy to take money from him in return for my hard work."

They just shook their heads at me before they returned to their spaghetti and meatballs.

"Can you handle Grace by yourself?" Mom asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had descended around us.

"I did today for a few hours; I think she and I will be just fine."

Mom smiled, "Then I guess that's all that really matters because that baby needs a woman's touch."

"Mom's right." Cady smiled. "You always did take good care of our dogs."

"Dogs are not babies." Seth pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that, honey." Cady rolled her eyes. "I just meant that she has always been the nurturing type."

Seth chuckled darkly, "She's not very nurturing towards Paul."

"Why would I be?" I quirked an eyebrow. "He's a grown man."

After our lovely dinner conversation the four of us went our separate ways. Mom and I disappeared into our rooms and Seth and Cady stayed behind in the kitchen to clean up dinner. Even though they had definitely been having fun at my expense, they had made me feel better about taking care of Grace. She was really all that mattered at the end of the day. My actual work on his finances would have to be done when she was sleeping or occupied with something else. Organization could always wait, baby girls could not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Green Day**

**Thanks again for your reviews! This chapter, I feel, finally starts to reveal some pieces of the puzzle; although it doesn't answer a lot of the questions I've been getting. For the answers to the questions you've been asking you'll have to keep reading, I'll try not to drag out the suspense too long :)**

* * *

"_Does the pain weigh out the price?_

_And you look for a place to hide._

_Did someone break your heart inside?_

_You're in ruins."_

**21 Guns**

* * *

After two weeks working for Paul I was proud of what I had accomplished inside his home. Not only did I manage Grace during the day which included feedings, diaper changes, play time, and nap time, but I also managed to straighten up the whole downstairs portion of the house. I really had no idea what the upstairs looked like because the room Grace occupied was right at the top of the stairs and I had never taken the time to explore the other rooms on the floor…yet.

But the downstairs was different. Paul had said he wanted organization, and while I had managed that with his finances easily, I had expanded that idea to his home. At first he didn't notice, but when he realized that the kitchen was all moved around he was less than pleased, but he kept his mouth shut. And then when I reorganized his movie collection in alphabetical order he merely shot me a look the next day as if to say I was some sort of organizing freak.

Today had been a stimulating day of billing Mrs. Crane for her porch and sending checks to his two employees. So besides doing my usual with Grace I had had time on my hands for more organization.

Grace and I were on the floor with building blocks when Paul walked in the door at three thirty and immediately walked over to his desk.

"Did you have a nice day?" I asked pleasantly.

He grunted in reply as he rifled through his newly organized desk.

"What are you looking for? Maybe I can help."

"You've obviously done enough_ help_! I can't find a damn thing! It was right here this morning!"

"What are you yelling about now?" I rolled my eyes as I picked Grace up and put her in the play pin; it didn't take a genius to figure out what was probably going to happen in the next few minutes between Paul and me.

"Where the hell is my planner woman?!"

I marched over to the desk and thrust my finger angrily at the top drawer of his desk. I crossed my arms as he opened the drawer and pulled the planner out. He then turned to me; his eyes dark with annoyance and anger.

"I didn't say anything when you decided to reorganize my whole kitchen, and I bit my tongue when you alphabetized all my movies, including my porn. But this is too much woman!"

"You hired me to organize!"

"Not my whole damn house!"

"Technically your desk is a space I can organize given that you run your business from it." I said with a self satisfied smirk for having thought of that argument.

He huffed, "I'll give you that, but my porn? Next thing I know you'll be in my room rifling through my underwear drawer."

"Dream on, Paul. And don't you think it's time for you to get rid of the porn now that there is a child in this house?"

"She's barely even a year old."

"So you're telling me that you can sit here on the couch and jerk off while your niece is upstairs sleeping?"

"A man has needs."

"Oh my gosh, I'm going."

"Yeah, well, don't come back."

I sucked in a breath.

"Fine! See if I care; you're only hurting Grace."

I marched out of the house before he could get the last word; another trait that I knew my Mom would have pointed out, had she been here, with that tone of disgust whenever something reminded her of Adam Harrison. I rolled my eyes at the thought; I liked to have the last word that didn't make me a beast.

Now that I was walking towards Seth and Cady's I realized that I didn't want them to have the satisfaction in knowing that Paul and I had had another blow out. It was obvious to me, especially after Embry's statement a few weeks ago, that the two of us were going to be a prime source of entertainment for the people of La Push this summer.

So if I wanted to avoid their smug looks that meant that I needed to do something until I calmed down and since I was walking my options were limited. A cool breeze stirred my hair off of my shoulders and a waft of salty air hit my nose. The ocean…I could go down to the ocean for a little while.

The last time I had been at the beach it had been nighttime, meaning that I had only been able to hear the sound of waves, but today I was able to actually see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Growing up in the Midwest, Michigan in particular, had severely limited my ocean exposure. Ask me most anything about the Great Lakes and I could tell you; I'd been in almost every one of them. But I'd only been to the ocean once in North Carolina; a trip that we had to beg Mom to take us on. We'd saved for two years and finally when we were fourteen the three of us drove all the way to the Outer Banks and stayed in a house near the beach for a week.

It had been the best vacation of our lives and even now it was hard to believe that anything could surpass it. For that one week the three of us had felt whole again; surrounded by the smell of the Atlantic Ocean and the feel of the summer sun beating down on us. We had come back to Michigan with a car full of sand and with skin full of burns and freckles, but it had been worth it.

It was sad for me to think that the closest I had ever felt to my Mother was that week in North Carolina where she had been carefree and truly happy even if for such a short time. Back in the real word there was too much that got in the way; we had too much Harrison in us, we left her to go to college, and now she was losing Cady to Seth. I loved my Mom more than anything, but when she made those comments a part of me hated her. And an even bigger part of me hated him for making her that way.

I wiped a tear away from my face as I stared out at the ocean. The picture before me was completely different from what I had seen in North Carolina. It had been the perfect beach setting there, but here the sun was hidden behind some clouds and the only sound to be heard was the roar of the ocean hitting the cliffs; there definitely was no laughter on this beach.

I was absorbed in my musings so I didn't hear footsteps behind me until a hand settled on my shoulder. I jumped before I turned around to face the intruder. It was Paul, with Grace strapped to his chest in one of those things I saw parents put their kids in when they went to the zoo or the mall.

"Sadie I'm—where you crying?"

I immediately wiped my eyes, "No, something blew into my eye."

He looked as if he didn't believe me, but he wisely kept his mouth shut for once.

"What were you going to say?" I asked, no longer feeling angry at him at all.

There were more important things than being insulted by this man; if you could really call the things he said to me insults.

"I'm sorry. As usual I overreacted. However, if you get it in your head to organize something again ask me first unless it's for the business."

"Agreed."

"And," He began and looked down awkwardly at the sand before his eyes rose to meet mine again, "I've decided to give my porn to Embry."

"You really don't have to; you have needs. I just wouldn't advise having it in your living room."

He shook his head, "No, I need to just get rid of it. In a few years she'll be walking and talking and I don't want her finding that stuff."

"That's very mature of you, Paul."

"I have my moments." He said with a small smile. "Now I'm sure nothing would make Grace happier than if I was to completely apologize by taking you out to dinner."

"Well, that sounds good to me."

A half hour later I found myself situated in a booth with Paul and Grace at Seth's restaurant in town. Seth wasn't there, but his Mother and Jared's wife, Kim, were there taking orders. Grace was happy to observe from her high chair at the end of the table as everyone went about their business in the place. Every so often she'd pick up one of her cheerios and stick it in her mouth sucking on it until it was mush, which sometimes she decided to spit out on the tray. She may be cute, but she was gross.

"So tell me more about Hunter." I urged, wanting to know about the uncle that hadn't contributed anything to Grace since her parent's death. "He sure has it easy."

"It's not like that, Sadie. He'll be here just as soon as he's finished with his dissertation, which won't be long now."

"What's his dissertation?" I asked curiously.

"Not sure, but it's for psychology; I always knew that kid would be a shrink." Paul replied with the hint of a smile playing about his lips. "When I first met Hunter I was twenty and he was just an eighteen year old kid from the outskirts of the rez. I'm still not sure how our families managed to live on the same reservation and not really know each other until Holly started to date Ryan."

"Was Holly your sister?" I asked gently; I didn't want him to stop telling me about them and I feared that if I asked too many questions he would.

"Yeah, and Ryan was Hunter's older brother. Anyway, it seemed like any time I saw that kid he was asking us questions about how we felt about things and telling us facts about what part of our brains controlled emotions and what not." He laughed. "That's why I wasn't surprised that he became a psychology major at school and now that he's almost done with Graduate school I can't force him to come help me when he's waited all of his life to finish this."

"I understand." I nodded. "How old is he now?"

"Twenty five."

"So you're twenty seven huh?" I grinned. "Closer to thirty than to twenty."

"Shut up, besides it's not like I've aged badly."

I rolled my eyes at his narcissism.

"How old are you?" He asked with a quirked brow.

"Don't you know how old Cady is?"

"Oh… yeah."

I shook my head with an amused smile on my face just as our food arrived. I was pleased; very pleased that he had opened up and told me just a little bit about his sister and brother in law. He hadn't told me much, but I wasn't expecting to have a complete heart and heart with him.

"So, where is your Dad? If you don't mind me asking."

My fry paused midway to my mouth, "I do mind actually, but I'll let you know anyway since you shared with me."

Paul nodded and waited while I put my fry back down and met his eyes again, "He left us. I don't want to go into details at the moment, but that about sums it up."

"He just up and left you guys? What kind of man does that?"

"I've been wondering the same thing for years."

"How long?"

"Look, I really don't want to say anymore about it."

"Alright, sorry."

The two of us turned our attention back to our plates and enjoyed the silence of eating for about ten minutes unit Paul spoke up again.

"Is that why you were so angry with me in the grocery store?"

"Yes."

"I'd never leave her or anyone like that…ever."

"I know you wouldn't, Paul."

* * *

"How the hell did you convince Paul to give up his porn collection? And to Embry?!"

I looked up from my book and up into the eyes of my future brother in law. He looked amused and confused at the same time and I found myself smiling back at him in return.

"I simply pointed out that there is a child in the house now."

"You had to have said more."

"Well, if you must know I asked him if he could really sit on the couch and jerk off while knowing his niece was upstairs sleeping."

"Nice."

"What about you? Any collection you should be getting rid of?" I asked with a quirked brow.

"Like I would have need for that with your sister around."

"You can leave now."

It was bad enough that the other night I had had the misfortune of needing to use the bathroom at one in the morning and had to hear just how much Seth did not need porn with my sister around. That right there was always an eye opener, especially at one in the morning. It had been hard for me to sleep after that, because I had been unable to banish the image of my sister sprawled out on a bed with—that was enough of that. I shuddered just at the memory.

"Just some advice, Seth. You guys should bring it down a bit at night if you don't want Mom on your case."

"Thanks for the advice; I'll keep it in mind tonight." He grinned wolfishly.

"Ass."

He flashed me another smile before he walked out of the house. Was that all these guys around here thought about? Sex? Their bodies definitely oozed sex, but that didn't mean they needed to watch pornos all the time and disgust their fiancé's sister with talk of sex. Well, at least there was never a dull moment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Linkin Park**

**Thanks for the response! I am slowly filling in the pieces to the puzzle, so while this may answer some of your questions, others are still left unanswered. Don't worry though, all questions you've had will be answered in time.**

* * *

"_I've become so numb_

_I can't feel you there._

_Become so tired,_

_So much more aware…"_

**Numb**

* * *

I woke up craving cookies. Usually I woke up craving breakfast items like bacon or hash browns, but never cookies. So I decided that instead of checking and rechecking Paul's business books, today I would make cookies instead.

I pulled the play pin from the living room and into the dining area where I could see Grace as I worked around the kitchen mixing up my ingredients for sugar cookies. At first I had planned on chocolate chip but when I found the bunny shaped cookie cutter that idea flew out the window. Grace loved bunnies, if the stuffed rabbit named Fluffy in her play pin was any indication. Besides who bought bunny shaped cookie cutters except for die hard cookie makers around Easter? This cookie cutter was obviously for Grace.

Grace was babbling to Fluffy as I rolled out the dough in the familiar fashion I had watched my Mom do as I grew up. Just the act of smelling the dough and the flour spread out on the wax paper took me back to memories of making Christmas cookies. So far back that I distinctly remembered the sound of male laughter echoing in the background.

I shook myself from my memories and started to cut bunnies into the dough. There was something thrilling about watching the dough take shape; the sound of the cutter slicing through the dough and the way the dough sometimes stubbornly clung to the cutter.

"I wonder if we have sprinkles." I mused out loud.

"There's no way you can have sugar cookies without sprinkles." Said a voice from the doorway.

I'll admit it, even though it was embarrassing; I let out a little shriek and dropped the cutter onto the dough with a low thud. Once that display of idiocy was over I looked up at the intruder. He was tall, just as all the men around the reservation were, but his build was different. While he was certainly well built, he did not have the distinctive physique that both Seth and Paul possessed.

"Who the hell are you?!" I said as I took a few protective steps over to the play pin.

The intruder ran a hand through his short black hair, an amused smile on his lips. I huffed, I'm glad he found the situation funny.

"I'm Hunter Richards; surely Paul has told you about me if you're here alone with Grace. Are you his girlfriend?"

It was my turn to laugh out loud at that question. How absurd, the two of us could barely go a few days without getting into some sort of argument; just the other day we had a small fight about what kind of baby food Grace should eat.

"No, I am definitely not his girlfriend." I replied. "Actually, I'm Paul's nanny slash finance lady, Sadie Harrison."

"Ah, you're Cady's twin…I can see it now." Hunter said with a small smile as his eyes roamed over my figure.

"You know Cady?"

"Not very well. I've only met her a few times, but I knew she had a twin."

"Well, that's me." I replied finally moving away from the play pin and back to my cookie dough.

Once I started pulling the cuts from the dough Hunter moved away from the door and headed over to the play pin to pick Grace up. She giggled loudly as he pressed her tight against his chest and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"She looks just like her." He whispered.

"Holly?"

"Yeah." Hunter sighed. "If you don't mind I think I'm going to take this little lady into the living room for some bonding time."

"Why would I mind? She's your niece." I answered. "I'll be in here making cookies if you need me."

I watched as he disappeared down the hall with Grace in his arms. There were bags at the door; obviously his. He must have finished his dissertation and was back to help Paul out with Grace. While I was pleased with that, what did that mean for me? Even though Paul and I didn't exactly see eye to eye he wasn't that bad to be around for short periods of time and I loved and looked forward to my time with Grace.

By the time the cookies were done, Paul had arrived back home. The reunion between the two of them was loud and I had to soothe Grace while the two of them slapped each other on the back and greedily grabbed cookies off of the platter I'd brought into the living room.

"So I see you've met Sadie."

"That I have." Hunter smirked. "She tells me there's nothing going on between you guys."

"Of course not!"

"I wasn't lying." I piped up from the couch where Grace was starting to fall asleep in my arms after the all of the excitement.

"Whatever you say, bro." Hunter winked.

What the hell? What was it with people making insinuations about Paul and me? Were they blind? It didn't take a genius to see that we mixed about as well as oil and water. In fact the other day when we had taken Grace to the department store and started a fight over a little dress, an elderly lady asked us why we had even bothered to have a child together. After we had calmly explained to her that she was not our child and that we were not a couple we'd left the store with our faces cast down, completely embarrassed.

"Anyway, what does this mean for me?" I finally asked.

Paul turned his gaze to me, "What do you mean?"

"Well, now that Hunter is home you really don't need me."

"You should keep her around Paul. I love Grace, but I don't have all the time she needs me to give her. I have to find a job."

"Then I'll keep you." Paul told me. "But our deal with the organizing still sticks. And don't go trying to mess with Hunter's things unless you ask."

Hunter looked confused, "What are you guys talking about?"

"She likes to organize things." Paul rolled his eyes and then in a stage whisper said: "She made me get rid of my porn."

Hunter gasped, "You got rid of your porn?!"

"Like he needed to have porn around with a baby in the house." I inserted with an eye roll.

"Who'd you give it to?"

"Embry."

"Oh man, I'm not ever going over there again; who knows what I'll see or hear."

* * *

_It was a dark and gloomy day; the kind of day I was afraid of because it usually meant a thunderstorm was on its way. I knew my parents were sick of me joining them in bed when the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, but not even my own sister could provide me enough comfort on a night like that._

_I stared out the doors that led into our elementary school, Cady at my side. She kept glancing at the clock on the wall and back to the little strip of parking lot where parents picked up their children. We were the last ones there; it was already three forty five and school had let out at three o' clock. _

"_Girls, I can't seem to get a hold of your Mother." Mrs. Jenkins, the nice secretary that always gave out suckers, told us from the front desk. "Is there someone else I can call?"_

"_No, we'll just go ahead and walk, Mrs. Jenkins." Cady replied._

_I turned wide eyes on my sister. I didn't want to walk home with the chance of a thunderstorm hanging over our heads. We lived at least ten or more blocks away and I had a feeling that in those ten blocks it would start raining or worse… start storming._

"_Girls, I can't let you do that."_

"_We don't live that far; only a few blocks." Cady lied._

"_Alright, I'll try your Mom again and try to let her know you guys are walking home." Mrs. Jenkins nodded. "Who was supposed to pick you guys up?"_

"_Our Dad." Cady replied._

_We waited a few more minutes while Mrs. Jenkins tried to call Mom again, but she had no luck. Cady smiled at her and told her thank you before she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the school into the windy April day._

"_We could have waited for Mrs. Jenkins to offer to take us home!" I yelled once we were away from the front of the school._

"_She's not allowed to without permission from our parents, Sadie."_

_We walked along in silence for what felt like a long time, cars passing us on the road paying no attention to two seven year olds walking home with purple backpacks strapped to their backs. Four blocks later the first raindrop fell on my nose._

"_It's raining." I hissed._

_Cady didn't reply, instead she made me turn around and pulled out the umbrella I kept in the front zippered portion of my back pack. Then she popped it open and handed it to me before she pulled out her own umbrella._

_We were fine for four more blocks until the wind started to pick up and the first flash of lightning lit up the sky followed by the far away sound of rolling thunder. My pace immediately picked up as I hurriedly pulled down my umbrella; we had to beat the storm home._

"_Slow down, Sadie!"_

"_We're going to get struck by lightning!"_

_She rolled her eyes at me but kept pace with me anyway. The sound of thunder was getting closer and closer and I knew it was only a matter of time before the storm was right on top of us. We still had two blocks to go and my heart was racing with the thought that we might not make it in time._

_Lightning ripped through the sky again followed by the loudest boom yet. I lost my footing, distracted by counting how long it had been in between the lightning and the thunder._

"_Sadie!"_

"Sadie! Sadie, wake up!"

My eyes snapped open just as lightning lit up the living room of Paul's house. It was late afternoon, so much like that day years ago. My heart was racing and my breathing was heavy.

"Are you alright?" Hunter asked as his eyes scanned my face for any sign of distress. "You were tossing your head back and forth. What were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing."

"I'm not stupid, Sadie. Your heart was racing a few seconds ago."

I waved him away, "Is Grace alright?"

"She's sound asleep."

"Good." I sighed as the thunder rolled in the distance.

He opened his mouth again, but snapped it shut before he could say anything else. I was thankful for that; I didn't want to talk about what I had just dreamt of at all. It was bad enough that it was more than just a dream; it was a memory…a memory that I was sure would haunt me for a long time to come.

* * *

We were going shopping for some honeymoon clothes for Cady today. Paul and Hunter had been fine with me taking Grace along, strapped into her stroller, her faithful bunny, Fluffy tucked in the seat next to her. Every now and again she'd stick one of his ears in her mouth as her big eyes looked all around the store.

"You're not going to buy lingerie are you? That's the whole point of a bachelorette party." I stated as I followed alongside Cady, pushing the stroller that contained Grace. I'd already gotten quite a few comments on how cute my 'daughter' was, mostly from old ladies. Instead of correcting them I decided it was just easier to say thank you and continue on shopping.

"No, I'm going to buy a few bras for everyday wear. I'm not about to walk around in a see threw bra all day." Cady replied.

"Hmm Seth seems like he'd be the kind of guy to appreciate something less obvious."

"He is."

Cady continued flipping through the bras until finally she pulled out one and held it up for my inspection. It was black and lacy, and it closed in the front.

"Here, this is perfect for you, Sadie." She grinned.

"What do I need a sexy bra for?" I remarked.

She just continued to grin at me in reply before after a few minutes she asked, "Remember when you always had to have front loaders because you couldn't figure out how to hook it in the back?"

"Shut up, I was thirteen."

The two of us were quiet for a minute before she finally spoke up again, "So, tell me about Hunter."

"My information on him is limited." I replied.

"I actually saw him the other day; did he get a job yet?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he just got a job at the hospital in Forks. He's working in the clinic and as the grief counselor for the hospital."

"You know, Sadie. When I was at school they provided us with free access to counselors and I found that they really helped me a lot. Maybe you should-"

"I'm fine."

"You may think you are, but I know you're not truly fine."

"What an adorable baby!" An older lady cried, effectively cutting off the conversation I did not want to be having with my sister.

I looked down at Grace who was staring up at the lady with huge brown eyes, Fluffy's ear still in her mouth. She did look adorable and I couldn't help the smile that came to my face at the sight.

"Thank you." I smiled.

The lady didn't notice that Grace looked nothing like me, but that didn't seem to make a difference to her as she smiled down at her before she walked away with her purchases in hand.

"I find it funny that none of them notice that Grace looks nothing like either one of us." Cady chuckled.

I shrugged, "So, what bra are you going to get?"

* * *

"Sadie!"

I immediately froze as I recognized Paul's angry voice. I could hear his footsteps approaching so I pulled my hands out of the dish water and rinsed them off just as Paul stormed into the kitchen with Hunter following behind him curiously.

"What?" I asked sweetly, as if I didn't know what I had done.

Paul's eyes narrowed, "Don't give me that. Why the hell did you do that to Grace?"

"I think she looks cute, don't you Hunter?"

Hunter's eyes widened as both Paul and I turned our eyes on him. He looked back and forth between us for a minute before he replied, "It's different, but I don't see a reason to be angry about it."

"Her ears are pierced! You had no right to have that done, you are not her guardian."

"Okay, I will admit that I was in the wrong and if you want I can take them out."

"No leave them in, Sadie. Paul is just upset that you have questioned his authority."

Paul glared at Hunter, "Don't go into therapist mode on me, Richards."

"I think what matters is Grace. Is she in pain?" Hunter asked.

"She cried a little when it was done, but five minutes later she was fine. And I'll let you know that I cried when I had mine pierced when I was seven."

"See she's fine, Paul."

"Hunter, shut up." Paul snapped. "Sadie, you are my employee. What have I told you about asking permission?"

"I know and I said I'm sorry!"

I watched as Hunter shot Paul a look and tried to contain my smug smile.

Paul kept his mouth shut but sent us both glares before he stormed out of the kitchen. Hunter and I exchanged looks and flinched when the front door slammed. I shrugged my shoulders and stuck my hands back into the dish water to finish washing up the dishes that had been left in the sink overnight.

"I guess I have just witnessed one of your infamous fights." Hunter chuckled.

"That was pretty tame compared to some other ones we've had."

"I think I know what the problem is between the two of you."

"Yeah?"

"Well, at least part of it anyway."

"And that is?"

"Sadie, your sister has talked to me and asked me to try and convince you to talk to me as a therapist."

My hand stilled on the pan I was scrubbing as his words sunk in. I closed my eyes for a minute, collecting myself, before I turned my head to look at him.

"What makes you think I need to talk to you?"

"The other day when you had that dream…it reminded me a lot of post traumatic stress disorder. You can have PTSD without being a veteran you know."

"What does this have to do with Paul and me?"

"The two of you both need to talk to someone and unfortunately you both seem to be stubborn about it." He replied. "I'll let you think on it, but I hope you'll come to me some time soon."

With that said Hunter sent me a gentle smile before he turned and walked out of the kitchen. A moment later I heard Grace's happy cry and Hunter's laughter.

I had been fine for years, so why did everything have to come back into the open again?


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to 30 Seconds to Mars**

**Thanks again for all of the great reviews! I wasn't going to update until tomorrow, but I'm in a good mood so I decided to post anyway. Again, don't worry your questions will be answered soon!

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**

"_We were the Kings and Queens of the promise,_

_We were the victims of ourselves._

_Maybe the children of a lesser God _

_Between heaven and hell, heaven and hell."_

**King and Queens

* * *

**

Today was the last day of June. It was hard to believe a month had already gone by here in La Push, each day closer to the main reason why I was here in the first place; my sister's wedding. Which reminded me: I still had no idea who could walk my sister down the aisle. How was it that something that was so simple to most everyone else in the country, was just a difficulty to the two of us?

"You look thoughtful." Hunter commented as he sat down next to me on the blanket I had spread out across the sand.

It was a sunny day in La Push today, one of the few since I had been here, and I had decided to take full advantage of it. I'd packed up all of Grace's sand toys, towels, and sunscreen, put her in her cute little polka dot bathing suit and headed for the beach dressed in my own polka dot bathing suit. Hunter had decided to come with us too since he had the day off anyway. So far he had already made Grace three sandcastles which she had immediately destroyed with a wave of her purple shovel.

"Just wondering who could walk my sister down the aisle."

"Yeah, that isn't exactly as easy for you as it would be to others isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Have you thought more about talking to me?"

"I'm not interested."

I hadn't really thought about it, because I had discarded that idea a long time ago. I did not want to open up about it; I never had wanted to. It might have been easy for Cady to reveal family secrets, but it wasn't easy for me. But we all had our strengths and weaknesses.

"Well, I guess all I can do is hope that you change your mind." Hunter sighed as he ran a hand through his short black hair. "Or lock you in a room with me."

I shot him a look and he replied with a cocky grin.

"How's the job going?" I asked, wanting to turn the conversation away from me.

Hunter picked up Grace from where she sat on the edge of the blanket and set her in his lap. She started to pick at his shorts as he absentmindedly ran his hand over her head.

"It's good; I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do." He replied. "Just the other day I had a major breakthrough with a young high school girl. It was a very empowering moment for me."

"That's good to hear."

"What about you? How do you like your job?"

"You know, that's the funny thing. I never thought I would be good with children, but surprisingly I am. I still get to work with numbers, but I take much more pleasure in taking care of Grace."

"I just realized something." Hunter said with an awestruck look on his face. "I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"What are you talking about?"

"You remind me so much of Holly."

"Holly? As in Paul's older sister?"

"Yeah…oh my gosh, it all makes sense now."

"What are you talking about?"

He turned to me, a somewhat anxious look on his face, "You'll find out eventually."

After that cryptic declaration he stood up, Grace in his arms and ran into the ocean. The sound of their laughter was carried back to me on the wind and I smiled despite the fact that Hunter had just confused the hell out of me.

An hour later I could feel that the skin on my shoulders was burning and called out to where Hunter stood at the edge of the water, Grace on his hip, pointing to something in the distance. He didn't seem to hear me so I finally stood up and walked over to the two of them.

Grace noticed me first and sent me a cute little baby grin. When Hunter turned his head to look down at me, he too was grinning.

"Hey, I'm starting to burn." I stated. "Plus, I believe it is Grace's nap time."

"Alright, party pooper. Let's go."

I rolled my eyes at him before I headed back to the blanket to pack things up into the beach bag. Once we were all ready to go we hopped into his little car and drove back to Paul's house. The ride was short and silent. We both went our separate ways when we entered the house; me upstairs with the baby and Hunter went straight into the downstairs bathroom.

I had just plopped down on the couch when Hunter walked into the room and took the seat across from me in the easy chair.

"My Mom suffered from major depressive disorder throughout my whole life until she died a few years ago." Hunter stated suddenly.

My eyes shot up to his, confused. Why was he telling me this? Was this way of trying to get me to open up to him? It was apparent to me that he probably already knew my story if he had talked to Cady, but that didn't necessarily mean he knew everything.

"Growing up wondering why my Mom never smiled at anything even remotely happy took a toll on me; I thought she hated me. It wasn't until I accidentally enrolled for the psychology class in high school that I finally understood what was wrong with her. My parents were still married, but they weren't really. He cheated on her and had no problem marrying his lover right after she died. Thankfully I had just graduated high school and had my scholarship so I didn't have to go live with him and his new wife." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he continued. "That's why I studied what I did. I want to help people like my Mom. I feel that if she had gotten the proper help she would have had the chance to be happy again."

I was quiet for a while, processing all that he told me. He hardly knew me, yet he was willing to share a bunch of information about himself when I disclosed nothing about myself.

"How did your Mom die?" I asked hesitantly.

"She didn't commit suicide if that's what you're thinking." He answered easily. "She had a brain aneurism while she was grocery shopping. I can only be thankful that it was quick and painless."

He took a quit breath and continued on, "Sadie, I just want you to understand that hiding negative emotions is bad. Negative emotions don't make you weird; many psychologists I know have had to have therapy themselves; me included."

I think he was waiting for me to say something, but the connection to my mouth was cut off. I couldn't find anything to say to him at the moment.

"It's alright; I don't expect a miracle today." Hunter smiled gently. "Do you like playing Mario Kart? I think the game is around here somewhere."

* * *

Numbers. I had always liked numbers. Numbers were solid…well unless they were fractions. In money there were decimals but I found a niche that allowed me to work fraction free. In numbers there wasn't any second guessing; there was either a right or wrong answer. It was black or white; no gray areas.

To me this work was almost mindless, especially working on Paul's books. Once they were organized to my liking it was easy for me to work through them in less than a half hour. Unless of course I was interrupted, like I happened to be today.

"Sonofa-"

"Paul?" I called out from his desk as I glanced up at the clock on the wall.

It was just after lunch, Grace was down for her nap, and we had not been expecting Paul home until at least after three since he was working on Mr. McAlister's bathroom. When I didn't get an answer from him, I pushed back the chair and stood up to walk into the living room. He was sprawled out on the couch, one hand holding a cloth to his arm.

"Are you bleeding?" I asked as I marched towards him.

"I'm fine."

"You are obviously not fine."

With that said I snatched the cloth away, gently of course, and looked down at the long gash on his forearm. With wide eyes I looked back up into his eyes. He met my eyes and gave me a look as if to say: 'so what?'

"Paul! We have to take you to the hospital! You should've went there in the first place, you idiot!"

He rolled his eyes, "I can take care of it myself."

"Nope. You stay here and I'll get Grace, then we're going to the hospital."

I didn't give him a chance to refuse me and marched upstairs where Grace was asleep in her crib. I picked her up gently, hoping I wouldn't wake her up as I fastened her into her carrier. Although she stirred a bit she was still asleep when I carried her down the stairs. Once she was fastened into the car I pushed Paul out of the way and got behind the wheel. He shot me a scowl but sat down in the passenger seat anyway, mumbling all the way.

Paul was immediately taken back to see Dr. Pierce, who turned out to be Jared, which left Grace and I to wait in the waiting room surrounded by magazines and uncomfortable blue chairs.

"Sadie?"

I looked up from the magazine I was flipping through and saw Hunter staring down at me. I was used to seeing him in jeans and t-shirts so I was a little surprised to see him in a pair of black slacks and a button down blue shirt.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he glanced down at where Grace was still asleep in her carrier.

"Paul cut his arm and refused to go to the hospital."

"He's with Jared right?" He asked a bit anxiously.

"Yeah…"

"Good. Well, don't worry about him. He's always healed pretty fast."

"I'm not worried." I shrugged.

At that moment Paul walked through the double doors, his arm covered with a white bandage.

"Good as new." Paul stated easily. "Didn't even need stitches."

"What? How could you not need stitches?!"

"Jared knows what he's doing, now let's go." Paul replied. "See you at home, Hunter."

"Yup." He nodded.

Paul didn't give me a chance to say much more instead he grabbed my hand as well as the baby carrier and dragged me out of the hospital and to the car. He situated Grace in the car seat while I buckled myself in moodily; I was not a rag doll to be dragged around.

"Just how did you cut yourself anyway?" I asked once he was behind the steering wheel.

"Pipe."

"By the way, I do not like being dragged along like a rag doll."

"Oh you're only angry because you weren't right; my cut wasn't as bad as you thought it was." He said smugly as he pulled out onto the road.

"No, I'm mad because you're treating me like I don't know anything."

"Quit turning nothing into something."

"Oh! That's rich coming from you, 'Mr. Where-the-hell-is-my-planner?!'"

"Maybe if you didn't insist on organizing everything I wouldn't get so upset!"

"Don't act like you don't like it; I saw you admiring your DVD organization the other day."

"That's not the point."

"Well-" I was cut off by the sound of Grace crying.

I immediately turned around to look at her; her face scrunched up and red, tears rolling down her chubby cheeks. I felt awful. How could we sit here and argue like that with her sleeping in the back of the car? How could we fight like that at all with her around?

"Our fighting is getting out of hand." Paul said quietly as I danced Fluffy around in front of Grace's face.

Once she was quiet I turned back around and nodded my head in agreement, "I was thinking the same thing."

"Hunter has been pestering me lately about having a sit down between the two of us, with him as mediator."

"Oh?" He had been pestering me too, but that had nothing to do with Paul.

"I think we should do it; for Grace's sake."

I was a little wary of the idea. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for Hunter to back me into a corner. However, I could not ignore the sniffles that were coming from the back of the car. I never wanted our stupidity to cause her to cry again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Simple Plan**

**Yet again I am in a good mood and have decided to post. Thanks again for all of the positive feedback!

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**

"_Sometimes I wish I could save you_

_And there's so many things that I want you to know._

_I won't give up 'till it's over._

_If it takes you forever, I want you to know_

_That if you fall, stumble down, I'll pick you off of the ground._

_If you lose faith in you, I'll give you strength to pull through._

_Tell me you won't give up,_

_because I'll be waiting if you fall you know I'll be there for you."_

**Save You

* * *

**

It was Saturday and normally I would have been with my Mom and Cady working on wedding plans, or in my case sitting and listening to the two of them make all of the decisions. I really wasn't upset I had to miss that today; however, I wasn't really looking forward to what I would be doing today instead.

Since it was Saturday and both Paul and Hunter were not working, today was the perfect day for our little sit down. To say I was nervous was an understatement. At this point I think it would have been easier to get me on the Millennium Force at Cedar Point rather than Paul's living room couch. And let me tell you; I do not do roller coasters.

"Are you going to come inside the house or stand out there all day wringing your hands?" Paul asked from the doorway.

My eyes snapped up to his and I immediately threw my hands behind my back to hide them. Then with all of the dignity I could muster I plastered an emotionless look on my face and pushed him aside to get inside. I heard him chuckle, but ignored him as I sat down on the couch.

Hunter was already seated in the easy chair across from the couch; the play pin situated off to the side with Grace nestled inside, Fluffy's ear in her mouth.

"You alright?"

"Oh I am great." I said sarcastically.

"There's no reason to be upset; we're just going to talk." Hunter explained gently.

Oh yeah, he was thoroughly in therapist mode already.

Paul sat down next to me and finally it was time for this _thing_, whatever it was, to begin.

"Alright, I'm going to be bold and just lay some things out on the table for the two of you." Hunter began. "Obviously there is friction between the two of you and I think that I have identified the source of that friction."

Paul and I exchanged a look.

"Paul, I know it took me longer to realize it than you, but there is no question whether or not Sadie reminds me of Holly; her actions, her skills, some of what she says sometimes. It's a little freaky frankly. The reason I point this out is because you have never properly grieved for your sister Paul, and Sadie is only a reminder of what you have not let yourself accept."

Apparently he wasn't going to give us any time to process what he was saying because now he was turned towards me, already sucking in a breath to speak again.

"Sadie, Paul may not remind you of your Father but the circumstances that you two met definitely did. I know that you know Paul isn't like that, but you haven't properly coped with your feelings either. And since the two of you have been put into close proximity with each other it only makes sense that there would be friction." Hunter explained. "At least that's the way I see things. But I could be wrong."

Silence. The only sound to be heard for at least five minutes was Grace's babbling. I kept my eyes to the floor; I felt that if I made any eye connection at this point that they would see more than I wanted them to see. So I counted the little pieces of carpet.

"He's right." Paul finally said. "About me anyway. You do remind me of Holly. That day in the grocery store… that angry look on your face standing by Grace reminded me so much of her that I was angry that you were there and she wasn't. I know that doesn't give me the right to continue to yell at you, but besides the fact that you remind me of Holly, there is just something about you that irks me."

"Passion?" Hunter suggested.

Both Paul and I practically shot daggers at the guy with our eyes.

"Or not…but what do I know? I'm just a psychology guy, I don't know anything."

"Shut up, Richards." Paul grumbled.

"He's right about me too, but I'm not about to have a little confessional over here. Paul and I had already established the fact that the grocery store incident reminded me of my Father. But yeah… I agree with Paul; there is just something about him that irks me."

Hunter coughed obnoxiously with what sounded like the word 'passion' mixed in there, but Paul and I both chose to ignore him.

"Well, the two of you need to speak to me separately, but I won't get my hopes up about that." Hunter sighed. "Although, I do hope you'll seek me out when you're ready."

"No, I'll do it now." Paul said.

That was my exit cue. I made my quiet goodbyes to the guys and kissed Grace on the head before I walked out of the house and headed towards the ocean.

It was another overcast day in La Push, the ocean breeze cold on my skin as I walked along the sandy beach. I didn't stay there long though; it was too quiet despite the roaring of the waves. I needed to lose myself in chaos, so I quickly walked back to Seth's house where wedding arrangements were being made.

* * *

I was afraid to go to bed. Outside the air was thick and smelled like a storm was approaching. Ever since I was young I had been able to tell when a storm was coming. My parents had joked and said I should be a meteorologist, but I was merely gearing myself up for the long night ahead of me. Before I was forced into bed I'd put a flashlight by my bed in case the power went out and held my stuffed bear extra close. Then when the storm finally hit I'd lay there for a while, until finally it became too much for me and I had to run into my parent's room for comfort. They were never happy about it, but yet one of them would always hold up the blankets for me to crawl under.

But lately I wasn't afraid of the storm so much as I was afraid of the dreams that came with them. I wasn't dumb, I knew that storms were a trigger for those memories that I preferred to keep buried away. If Cady had suspected anything in all the years that we shared a room, she had never said anything, but tonight she kept throwing glances my way as I stared out the windows of the house.

"We usually don't get a lot of thunderstorms up here." Seth mused after the weatherman finished the forecast. "Mostly just rain."

"We do in Michigan, especially early Spring." Cady replied before her eyes shot up to meet mine apologetically.

I looked away after a few seconds and turned back to the book in my lap. It was hard to concentrate, but I stayed up as long as I could reading while the storm moved closer and closer. Finally, around midnight I couldn't fight my heavy eyelids anymore and went to bed as the storm broke.

"_Oh thank God you're awake!"_

_I felt really heavy, and just the act of opening my eyes was tiring. My Mom's face hovered above mine and behind her I saw a man standing there in a white coat. As soon as Mom backed away from me and the bed I was in, he moved forward and started checking the machines that were around me._

"_Will she be alright?" Mom asked a bit nervously._

"_We'll have to run some tests." He simply replied before he scribbled something down on the chart he was holding._

"_Is it alright if I bring her sister in to see her for a few minutes?"_

"_Just a few minutes, she'll probably be back asleep before we know it; the poor thing."_

_I had no idea what they were talking about. It was obvious to me that this man was a doctor and judging by the looks of the room I was in I figured I was probably in the hospital. I had never been in the hospital before, but I had watched ER enough times with my Mom to recognize a hospital room._

_A few minutes after the doctor left my Mom came back into the room, my sister trailing along behind her. I could tell she had been crying; her face was red and wet with tears. I still wasn't sure what exactly was going on but as soon as our eyes connected I remembered everything._

"_Sadie, I-"_

"Sadie! Wake up!"

My eyes snapped open to the sight of a much older Cady leaning over me. Lightning lit up the room briefly, allowing me to see the concern in her eyes. It pained me to see how worried she was about me, but I knew she couldn't stop if she tried.

"How'd you know I was having a bad dream?" I asked quietly.

"I got up to use the bathroom and heard you thrashing around." She replied as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "This is getting ridiculous, Sadie. I can't sit back and watch you do this to yourself again. I may have kept my mouth shut when we shared a room, but I can't anymore."

"You knew all that time?"

"Of course I did, I'm your sister!" Cady cried. "But Sadie, you need to talk to Hunter."

"No."

"Sadie, you don't have to live like this anymore. Hunter is a professional; he's not going to make you say more than you want and he certainly is not going to tell anyone."

"I don't have the money to-"

"Shut up, you know he won't charge you. Look, I know I can't force you to do anything but if you were going to buy me a wedding present forget it. I'd much rather you do this for me; that's all the gift I need."

With that said she pulled back the covers and slid into bed next to me as the storm raged on outside. She knew I didn't want to fall back asleep so she started talking. We talked about Seth at first and finally we just started to talk about Grace; I could go on and on about her.

When my eyes opened again it was light outside and Cady was still in bed next to me sound asleep. The door slowly creaked open as I was staring down at my sister and I looked up to see Seth peer in at the two of us. He smiled gently when our eyes met and moved away from the door, leaving me to wake up Cady.

"Cady, I think your man wants a good morning kiss." I whispered near her ear as I shook her awake.

I had learned years ago that this tactic did not work to wake Cady up, yet I did it anyway. But after I amused myself with that for a minute I did the only thing that would get her up when she didn't want to. I blew on her face.

"Ew! You spit on me!"

* * *

Hunter was already gone when I arrived at the house for work. I breathed a sigh of relief at that. I wasn't ready to confront him in any sense yet, especially after the other night with Cady. Instead I was greeted by Paul's smiling face.

My eyebrow shot up in confusion at the look on his face. He noticed and with a laugh pulled me into the living room where Grace was already in her play pin with Fluffy.

"I need to apologize to you for acting as I did towards you. I'm sorry." He stated. "After you left the other day I really opened up to Hunter. And I want you to understand."

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to." I said quickly.

He shook his head, "No, I want to tell you."

I sat down on the couch and waited as he paced back and forth in front of me for a minute before he sat down on the couch next to me. I turned to face him and continued to wait for him to start speaking.

"My Mom died when I was really young leaving my Dad to take care of the two of us. He did the best he could, but he could never manage to fill what Mom left behind. But Holly did, even though she wasn't much older than me she became more of a mother to me than my older sister. We were so close and we grew even closer when our Dad died a year before Grace was born; Holly was already married, but that didn't stop her from taking care of me. So, when she and Ryan died I was able to grieve for him, but I did not want to accept that all of my family had left me in this world alone."

"I'm sorry, Paul." I said quietly as I laid a comforting hand on his upper arm.

"Don't be sorry. If anything I should be thanking you for practically forcing me to confront my loss."

We sat there quietly for a minute before he jumped up off of the couch and grabbed his keys from the side table.

"Well, I'll see you later. I've got work to do on Mrs. Crane's bathroom now. I think her and Mr. McAlister are one upping each other; not that I mind."

I chuckled and watched as he gathered up his things and left the house. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him I started to cry. I really wasn't sure why I was crying, but there I was sitting on the couch tears rolling down my face and dripping off of my chin and onto my T-shirt.

I wasn't one of those loud criers, but my crying was far from dainty. I knew that my face was probably red and nasty looking and I could feel snot dripping out of my nose. I was too wrapped up in controlling the substance coming from my nose that I didn't notice that Grace had stood up and was holding on to the edge of the play pin, looking at me curiously.

"Mama?"

I laughed through my tears, "No honey, I'm not your Mama, but I'll do the best I can for you."

I heard the creak of a floor board and jerked up my head to look at the archway that led into the hall. There stood Paul and he was staring right at me, his face unreadable. I couldn't look away from him; I was embarrassed and afraid of what he was going to do at the same time. My heart was racing and I could feel myself get even hotter than I was before from crying.

"I left my measuring tape; I brought it in last night to measure for curtains in Grace's room." Paul explained as he held up the measuring tape so I could see it.

I nodded and sniffed back the snot I could feel trying to make its way out of my nose. I didn't want to blow my nose; that would only draw attention to what I had so obviously been doing before he had caught me.

"Well, I'll be going now."

I nodded, not trusting my voice enough at the moment to speak. He nodded back and was out the door without another word.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to All Time Low**

**Here is the chapter I'm sure quite a few of you have been waiting for. There are still some questions left, but they will all be answered in time. And just a warning…I was teary eyed when I wrote this. Thanks for the reviews!

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"_Give me therapy_

_I'm a walking travesty._

_But I'm smiling in everything._

_Therapy, you were never a friend to me_

_and you take back your misery."_

**Therapy

* * *

**

For a long time my sister and I had had to rely on each other. Mom was around and she saw to our basic needs, but for years she wasn't _really _around in the way Mom's needed to be. I never went to Mom when I failed my math test and Cady never went to her when she didn't feel good. We didn't want to bother her with our problems because in comparison they seemed significantly inferior. Even when Mom improved we stuck together, still not wanting to burden her with the troubles in our everyday lives.

That was why I was on my way to the hospital. Cady was only doing what we had done for each other for years. I knew that if I was in her position I would do the same thing. Sure it wasn't easy for me, but I knew that most of the time it was harder to watch someone you love be in pain than actually being in pain yourself.

Of course I hadn't gone to bed with my mind made up; I had been considering it but in my mind it wouldn't become a reality for a long time. However, my subconscious had a different plan for me. There was no sign of a thunderstorm when I went to sleep and the forecast called for cloudy with a chance of sun in the late afternoon tomorrow. So I was fairly certain I wouldn't be plagued with my memories, but I was wrong.

No one knew what I was doing today. I had asked Mom to watch Grace for me today, telling her I needed to work on Cady's wedding present. It wasn't a lie, but I knew she was thinking of china sets and bed sheets as opposed to what I was actually doing. Paul was also aware that I was gone today, but he only knew what I had told Mom.

Hunter seemed surprised when he looked up to see me walking into his office; his ten thirty appointment. He quickly masked his surprise and smiled gently at me as I sat down on the large couch situated across from what looked like a pretty comfortable easy chair.

"I know you're surprised to see me." I stated as he sat down across from me on the easy chair.

I had expected him to have a pad of paper and a pen in hand, but he was empty handed. Instead of jotting down notes, his eyes were assessing me. Despite the crappy quality of my sleep I looked pretty well put together, nothing out of the usual.

"I think it might be best if I'm only Hunter the doctor to you right now. Not Hunter, Grace's uncle." He stated.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"How are you today, Sadie?"

I knew this was his opening for me; he wasn't just going to come out and say 'what the hell happened to you', he was too professional for that. But I knew that was what he was thinking, I could see it in his eyes; maybe not so much right now but I had seen it before when he was encouraging me to talk to him.

"I had a dream last night, but it wasn't really a dream; it was a memory."

"Do you have these often?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't always like that." I answered. "After it first happened I did for years, but usually only when there was a storm at night. Then when I went away to college they stopped until recently. But last night there was no storm and instead of just dreaming a fragment, I watched it all again."

"Do you mind sharing what it was you dreamt?"

"For years I only dreamt one thing over and over again; the very beginning of my memory. But now it's more than that."

He nodded in understanding and waited for me to go on. This was it; the time for me to finally share what had happened. I had never talked about it openly with Cady or Mom because they had lived it as well, and I had certainly never told anyone else.

"Cady and I were seven at the time…"

_It was a dark and gloomy day; the kind of day I was afraid of because it usually meant a thunderstorm was on its way. I knew my parents were sick of me joining them in bed when the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, but not even my own sister could provide me enough comfort on a night like that._

_I stared out the doors that led into our elementary school, George A. Benson Elementary, Cady at my side. She kept glancing at the clock on the wall and back to the little strip of parking lot where parents picked up their children. We were the last ones there; it was already three forty five and school had let out at three o' clock. _

"_Girls, I can't seem to get a hold of your Mother." Mrs. Jenkins, the nice secretary that always gave out suckers, told us from the front desk. "Is there someone else I can call?"_

"_No, we'll just go ahead and walk, Mrs. Jenkins." Cady replied._

_I turned wide eyes on my sister. I didn't want to walk home with the chance of a thunderstorm hanging over our heads. We lived at least ten or more blocks away and I had a feeling that in those ten blocks it would start raining or worse… start storming._

"_Girls, I can't let you do that."_

"_We don't live that far; only a few blocks." Cady lied._

"_Alright, I'll try your Mom again and try to let her know you guys are walking home." Mrs. Jenkins nodded. "Who was supposed to pick you guys up?"_

"_Our Dad." Cady replied._

_We waited a few more minutes while Mrs. Jenkins tried to call Mom again, but she had no luck. Cady smiled at her and told her thank you before she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the school into the windy April day._

"_We could have waited for Mrs. Jenkins to offer to take us home!" I yelled once we were away from the front of the school._

"_She's not allowed to without permission from our parents, Sadie."_

_We walked along in silence for what felt like a long time, cars passing us on the road paying no attention to two seven year olds walking home with purple backpacks strapped to their backs. Four blocks later the first raindrop fell on my nose._

"_It's raining." I hissed._

_Cady didn't reply, instead she made me turn around and pulled out the umbrella I kept in the front zippered portion of my back pack. Then she popped it open and handed it to me before she pulled out her own umbrella._

_We were fine for four more blocks until the wind started to pick up and the first flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by the far away sound of rolling thunder. My pace immediately picked up as I hurriedly pulled down my umbrella; we had to beat the storm home._

"_Slow down, Sadie!"_

"_We're going to get struck by lightning!"_

_She rolled her eyes at me but kept pace with me anyway. The sound of thunder was getting closer and closer and I knew it was only a matter of time before the storm was right on top of us. We still had two blocks to go and my heart was racing with the thought that we might not make it in time._

_Lightning ripped through the sky again followed by the loudest boom yet. I lost my footing, distracted by counting how long it had been in between the lightning and the thunder._

"_Sadie!"_

_I had seen a lot of people fall in my seven years of life, mostly on the playground. Watching someone else fall… it all happened so fast. But as my feet came out from under me it seemed that time had slowed down as I came closer and closer to the hard cement of the cracked sidewalk. In that time I could hear Cady screaming my name and the sound of a car pulling alongside the road. But I didn't have a chance to see who it was before I made contact, my head exploding in pain before everything went black._

"_Oh thank God you're awake!"_

_I felt really heavy, and just the act of opening my eyes was tiring. My Mom's face hovered above mine and behind her I saw a man standing there in a white coat. As soon as Mom backed away from me and the bed I was in, he moved forward and started checking the machines that were around me._

"_Will she be alright?" Mom asked a bit nervously._

"_We'll have to run some tests." He simply replied before he scribbled something down on the chart he was holding._

"_Is it alright if I bring her sister in to see her for a few minutes?"_

"_Just a few minutes, she'll probably be back asleep before we know it; the poor thing."_

_I had no idea what they were talking about. It was obvious to me that this man was a doctor and judging by the looks of the room I was in I figured I was probably in the hospital. I had never been in the hospital before, but I had watched ER enough times with my Mom to recognize a hospital room._

_A few minutes after the doctor left my Mom came back into the room, my sister trailing along behind her. I could tell she had been crying; her face was red and wet with tears. I still wasn't sure what exactly was going on but as soon as our eyes connected I remembered everything._

"_Sadie, I should have listened to you!" Cady cried._

"_What happened after I fell?" I asked, my voice coming out hoarse._

_Mom immediately handed me some water and watched while I drank it before she moved away from the bed again. Cady moved closer and grabbed my hand as more tears slid from her eyes._

"_When you fell there was blood; blood coming out of your head. Then a man pulled up; you know Mr. Donovan that works with- worked with Dad? He came to pick us up and when he didn't find us at school he came to find us. He saw what happened to you and immediately drove you here."_

_That's when I realized something was missing from this picture. Just to make sure I looked all around the room again, searching for my Father. But I found nothing, not even a sign that he had ever been here to see me._

"_You were in a coma, honey. For three days." Mom said gently._

"_What's a coma?" I asked innocently, still wondering where my Dad was and why he wasn't at Mom's side._

"_That means you were alive and breathing, but you weren't functioning at all."_

"_Am I going to die?" I questioned desperately, feeling tears form in my eyes. "Where is Dad?!"_

"_Shh, you're not going to die." Mom soothed me, her own eyes glossing over with unshed tears. "But you need to sleep now. Cady and I will be back later."_

"_But where's Dad?" I cried._

_She didn't answer me; instead she reached towards a machine and pressed a button before she grabbed Cady's hand. My eyes felt so heavy and even though I wanted my answer I let myself drift away into a dreamless sleep._

_Two days after I woke up the doctors decided I could be released the next day. They had told me that despite the small scar on my head I was perfectly fine and my hair would grow in after a while to hide it. I was happy about that; I didn't want people to make fun of me for the scar on my head, like they made fun of Andrew Miller's._

_I was eating some jell-o when Mom walked into the room with Cady following quietly behind her. They both looked so sad; like they thought I was dying or something._

"_I'm alright guys! They're letting me leave tomorrow." I quickly assured them, and then wrinkled my brow when my declaration made no impact on them at all._

"_Where's Dad? Why hasn't he come seen me yet?"_

_Cady's eyes met mine and I knew that for as long as I lived, even at the age of seven, that I would never forget the look in her eyes. She was heartbroken, truly heartbroken and scared and worried all at the same time. And when I looked into my Mom's eyes hers held almost the same thing, except there was a trace of hopelessness mixed in with all the rest._

"_He's gone." Mom whispered._

"_What do you mean he's gone?" I asked confused._

"_He's not coming back, Sadie."_

"Cady and I didn't learn the truth behind it all until we stumbled across a few letters in our Mom's room when we were sixteen. The first one was from the same day I had my accident; the day he left."

"_Cady, look at this." _

_We knew that we weren't supposed to be in her room without her permission, but for some reason after she left to go grocery shopping we decided we needed to find her hair curlers ASAP. We had been giggling and laughing about how springy our hair would look when we were done but as soon as I found the box under the bed my laughter died._

"_What is it?"_

"_A letter from Dad, dated April 16; the same day as my accident."_

_Caroline,_

_All I can ask is that you take good care of our girls, and I hope that one day you understand why I did what I did. _

_Fondly,_

_Adam_

"_Our girls?" Cady hissed. "Why the hell did he leave if he 'cared' for us?"_

"_Look, there's another one from our last birthday."_

_Caroline,_

_Today the girls are sixteen and now I am confident that they are ready to know the reasons why I left. I can only hope that you will share this letter with them. You may hate me but don't let your opinions rule theirs. _

_I left because I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stand the little perfect world you tried to make us live in. At first I didn't notice it and I won't lie and say I didn't enjoy the obsessive baking at the holidays or the fanatic cleaning that went on around the house. But I should have drawn the line the day the girls were born, when you branded them with those names. I wanted to name them after our Grandmothers Evelyn and Julia, but you threw such a fit that I gave in to you._

_If you think I left for another woman you are wrong, but I won't lie and say that I didn't find another woman because I did; two years after our divorce was final. We have a son, Caleb, and he reminds me so much of the girls that I almost regret what I did._

_Girls if you are reading this, I hope that one day you can forgive me._

_Fondly,_

_Adam_

"How did you feel about those letters at the time?" Hunter asked.

"Disgusted. In fact for a while I continued to feel the same. But after a while I started to remember the things he mentioned about the cookie cutter image of our house. Since he had gone it was no longer the same, but before it definitely was. Cady and I didn't notice it then because we were only children; we thought it was normal."

"How do you feel about the letters now?"

"Still a little disgusted. I understand his feelings towards my Mom, but the way he handled things…If he truly loved and cared about Cady and I he wouldn't have left and started a new family."

"Do you think that you could ever forgive him?"

"I think Cady has, but…" I sucked in a deep breath trying to hold back the rush of tears I could feel. I had gone on so long without shedding one tear, but now it felt like the dam was about to break. "He wasn't there and I could have died!"

I had finally admitted it all out loud and there was no stopping the tears that followed. All these years I had been plagued with the thought that if I had died he wouldn't have been there. And I felt that he probably wouldn't have cared anyway. Who could just leave their children just because they didn't love their Mother anymore?

Hunter grabbed the box of tissues before he moved to sit next to me on the couch. I knew that what he was doing wasn't exactly professional, but I let him pull me into his arms anyway as I cried for what had happened to me over a decade ago.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the thing you don't recognize! Song credit to Every Avenue**

**Thanks again for all of the reviews! I'm going to try to update as much as I can before March 5****th****, as I will be going away for Spring Break.

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"_Where were you when I needed you most?_

_Why did you leave me alone?_

_We gave up before we gave it a chance_

_And I don't understand."_

**Where Were You

* * *

**

Therapy with Hunter was slow and painful for the first few sessions. He had diagnosed me with PTSD and had chosen imaginal exposure as my treatment. Basically that meant that every session I told my story over and over again. So far he was confident that I had already showed some improvement, but we still had a way to go before I was truly recovered.

No one besides Hunter and I knew what we were up to. After the first initial meeting with Hunter I started taking Grace with me; leaving her with Hunter's secretary, a charming older lady in her forties, in the reception area.

My therapy wasn't my only concern at the moment either. It was already mid July and I still had not found someone to walk Cady down the aisle at her wedding. Who was there really? Yeah, she was friendly with a lot of the guys around the reservation, but no one stuck out as extra special to her besides Seth, and he was not an option.

"Who do you think should walk Cady down the aisle, Grace?" I asked as I smiled down at the little girl whose diaper I was changing at the moment.

"Mama!"

"No, silly." I laughed as I put the finishing touches on the diaper changing process.

"You know, it probably isn't a good idea for her to call you that when you're only going to be leaving at the end of the summer." Paul said from behind me.

I jumped about a foot in the air before I turned around to look up at the intruder. He was sweaty and covered in a thin layer of sawdust; probably from working on Mrs. Crane's new wheelchair ramp…even though she wasn't even wheelchair bound.

"I can't tell her not to call me that, Paul; she's a baby." I replied easily.

Ever since the sit down between Paul, Hunter, and I followed by Paul's confession we hardly ever fought. Oh yes, we disagreed, but we actually managed to do so as adults. Insults were still occasionally thrown, but never at the level they were before.

"You seem…better lately." He stated.

"I have a confession, but I haven't even told my sister yet so don't go blabbing it. I've been seeing Hunter."

"Seeing Hunter?!"

I was taken aback by his sudden outburst. What was so wrong about me seeking his professional help? He'd offered it to me for goodness sakes! And just like Cady had said, he did it for free.

"What's so wrong about that?" I asked my brow wrinkled in confusion. "He's really been helping me deal with my issues."

"OH!"

One of my eyebrows shot up at that, "What did you think I meant?"

"I thought you meant you were _seeing_ him."

"Ah, I see." I smiled before I turned around to pick Grace up from the changing table.

I sent Paul another amused smile before I walked out of Grace's room, with Grace cuddled close in my arms. She was in the play pin and I was flipping through his receipts when he finally came downstairs to join the two of us.

"So, you're home early." I commented as he lifted Grace out of the play pin and started to tickle her tummy.

"Mrs. Crane and Mr. McAlister came to an understanding." He shrugged.

"What was that?"

"They're going to move into her house."

"What?!"

He laughed, "Apparently they've lusted after each other for years and now they've finally acted on it."

"No wonder she wanted a wheelchair ramp." I mused picturing the wheelchair ridden Mr. McAlister and Mrs. Crane locked in an intimate position. Ew gross! Sweet, but disgusting.

"Well, it's great for me. My next project is widening her doorframes."

"Why is he in a wheelchair?" I asked curiously.

"I don't really know…but judging by what I saw today he is definitely not paralyzed."

"Ew!"

His rich laughter mixed in with the sweet sounds of Grace's giggle as he continued to gently tickle her brought a smile to my face. I almost felt like a completely different person for a second as I sat there in what would look like, to any stranger, a small family moment.

After a few minutes I turned back to the receipts, looking up every once and a while to see Paul playing with Grace on the floor. Once he tired of building with her, he tried to get her to say other words besides 'Mama'. In fact he was pointing to himself and trying to get her to say Paul.

"Don't you think that's a little complex for a baby?" I asked without looking up from the numbers I was adding.

"Well, I can't have her calling me Dad. Think how that would make Hunter feel."

"Then what is she supposed to call the two of you until she's old enough to understand the difference?"

He didn't answer my question, but instead said: "You know, I've heard this before and it's probably corny. Anyone can be a Father, but it takes a special man to be a Dad."

"In that case, I've never had a Dad."

"Do you consider us to be friends?" Paul asked as he picked Grace up and moved to the easy chair. He started to rock, with her nestled in the crook of his arm. She already looked a little sleepy, and after a few seconds of rocking her eyes started to drift shut.

"Yes."

"Then is it too much to ask what happened to you?"

Was it really too much to ask? He had opened up to me and trusted me well enough to look after the baby he so obviously loved. Plus he had seen me crying for no apparent reason and I was sure after I told him my story he would understand.

"No, I guess it isn't."

I was at the point that when I related my story over and over again to Hunter I didn't cry anymore, but spilling my heart out to Paul was completely different than it was with Hunter. By the time I was finished I had tears rolling down my face, and my face felt hot. Paul watched me for a minute, an unreadable look in his eyes, before he gently placed the sleeping Grace in the play pin and sat down next to me on the couch. I instinctively turned to him and buried my head in his chest as his arms came around me.

"How could any man leave his children?"He muttered angrily as his hands tenderly ran up and down my back.

"Don't worry about it." I whispered. "It's not your problem."

"Yes it is, Sadie. I care about you; you're my friend and he hurt you deeply."

"So you do care about me? I don't just annoy you?" I chuckled after I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes.

"Yes, you annoy me, but I do care about you." He assured me.

"You annoy me too." I smiled. "And yes, I care about you too. How's that arm of yours? Do you have a nasty scar?"

His demeanor changed immediately at the mention of his arm. His face became guarded and if I wasn't mistaken I saw him try to hide his forearm casually.

"Let me see." I demanded.

He shook his head, but before he could move away I grabbed his arm and pulled it towards me for inspection. His arm was perfect; no sign that he had ever been seriously injured. My brow wrinkled in confusion and I quickly grabbed his other arm wondering if I had been confused as to which arm it was. But that arm was just fine too.

"Do you have some magical healing balm or something?"

"You could say that."

Hunter walked into the room then but stopped as soon as he saw the position we were in; me with Paul's arms out for my inspection.

"What's going on here?" He asked a bit nervously.

"Paul doesn't have a scar from that nasty cut!"

Hunter shot a look in Paul's direction; one I couldn't read. They had a brief exchange with their eyes before Paul gently pulled his arms away from me and stood up. Then the two of them walked out of the living room and outside, leaving me alone with Grace in the living room. A few minutes later I could hear raised voices outside. I sat there for a moment before I decided that I wanted to know what all the commotion was about.

I wasn't usually an eavesdropper, but this time I knew that there was no way what they were talking about could not be about me. So, that's why I ignored my conscious and snuck to the backdoor and cracked it open enough to see the two of them facing off with each other. They both looked angry, and Paul seemed to be shaking.

"Just tell me what the hell you are doing with her! She's in a fragile state; she does not need you messing with her emotions!" Hunter yelled as he took a step closer to Paul.

Paul took another step forward, "I'm not messing with her emotions."

"Well just tell me now…did you imprint on her or not?"

Before I could hear Paul's reply Grace's cry ripped through the quiet of the house causing me to jump away from the door guiltily. What was I doing spying? I didn't even know what the hell they were talking about.

When I got to Grace I immediately picked her up and inspected her diaper. That wasn't what was ailing her so I started to rock her back and forth in my arms humming a lullaby as I did so. It was her favorite; the only one I could remember from my childhood.

"Rock a bye baby on the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock." I sang as the back door opened and I heard the two of them shuffle inside.

Thankfully they were done yelling, as was Grace, who was staring at me with large glossy eyes.

"Mama." She said as one of her little hands reached out and grabbed my ear.

"Ow, that's my ear, silly!"

"Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama."

"Yes, Mama." There was no point trying to tell the child otherwise.

When I looked up from the baby in my arms both Hunter and Paul were standing in the doorway staring at me in wonder. It was a little disconcerting and I felt myself blush a little under their scrutiny.

"I'm sorry, but she's got it into her head that I'm her Mama."

"It's alright." Hunter whispered gently. "She needs one."

* * *

"Do you guys know what imprinting is?"

Both Cady and Seth looked over at me in surprise. I had waited until Mom had gone to bed to pose my question. Mostly because I knew she wouldn't have any idea and would end up asking _me_ questions that I didn't know the answer to.

"Why do you ask that?" Seth asked carefully.

"No reason, I just heard the term used and wondered what it meant." I shrugged. "Do you guys know what it is?"

"Where did you hear it?"

"I overheard Paul and Hunter."

"Sadie! I forgot to tell you!" Cady said suddenly. "I have a flower girl. Sam and Emily's little girl, Tracy, is going to do it!"

"Aw, that's great, Cady." I replied with a smile. "That reminds me; I have something to tell you…alone."

She nodded and stood up from her position next to Seth on the couch. She led me out into the cool night air and sat down on the porch railing. I did the same and turned towards her.

"I've been talking to Hunter at his office."

"You have?! Sadie I'm so happy you've done this! How do you feel?"

"I feel a little better."

"Good." She said with a smile before she pulled me into her arms for a tight hug. "Thanks for my present."

"I still have to find you someone to walk you down the aisle." I muttered.

"I have faith in you."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit to** **We The Kings**

**I hadn't planned on posting this so soon, but I figured I'd give you guys a nice long chapter to hold you over while I go through a writer's block. Feedback is definitely appreciated. Thanks again for those who have reviewed.

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"_Time stops as we move closer,_

_The sun drops into the water._

_Now I am falling into summer love."_

**Summer Love

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"I'm happy with your progress, Sadie, but I think there's one thing you have to do before you can truly move on."

I looked up from my hands and into Hunter's eyes. He was yet again perched in the easy chair in his office, his hands free of a note pad and pen. We had just finished another round of imaginal exposure and our time together was drawing to a close.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You need to confront your Father."

"No."

"Sadie, it's-"

"Listen; he didn't leave us an address, phone number or anything. He doesn't want us in his life and we're just fine without him. I don't need to confront him to be fine, Hunter."

He sighed and gave me what I had learned to be his signature therapist sigh, the one that said I wasn't doing exactly what he thought I should be doing. I ignored him and grabbed my purse from the floor before I stood up.

"I'll see you later."

He nodded and watched as I walked out of his office. In the waiting area Hunter's receptionist was sitting with Grace on her lap staring at the cartoon that was playing on her computer. I smiled and watched the two of them for a minute before I made my presence known by clearing my throat.

"Yet again I had no problem with her at all; she's a sweet one." Mrs. Daniels smiled as she handed Grace over to me.

The sun was out when we pulled into the driveway of Paul's house. The sun wasn't the only thing out though. Paul was in the yard shirtless painting the front porch railings. Oh my gosh. I knew his body was impressive, but I had never seen him without a shirt on. It was the stuff of every woman's dreams; the kind of guy that they put on the front of cheesy romance novels. Sweat was glistening off of him and holy shit was that an eight pack?!

"Are you going to stand there all day and stare at me or go inside and get the beach stuff?" Paul smirked as he walked towards where I stood dumbly with Grace in hand.

I snapped myself from my fantasy land and rolled my eyes at him, "You aren't that impressive."

"Liar." He chuckled and grabbed Grace's carrier from me. "Come on, get your swimsuit on and grab the beach stuff; we can't let this sun go to waste."

When we reached the beach it was apparent that no one was willing to let the rare summer sun go to waste. I found us a spot in the sand and spread out the blanket before Paul, with Grace in his arms, sat down.

"Here put some sun screen on her." I instructed as I handed him the bottle of lotion.

I was already working on putting my own on; I had learned my lesson after I burned my shoulders the last time at the beach. Fair skin was not something to be messed with. I was almost done putting on my lotion when Paul grabbed my bottle from me and squirted some in his hands as Grace crawled towards the bucket of toys.

"Here, let me get your back."

"Make sure you get the back of my arms." I said as I turned my back to him.

I had never had a man put sunscreen on me before; it had always been either my sister or my Mom. But this was different; his hands were large and warm and felt absolutely delightful on my back. I knew I was enjoying it more than I should, but when he started to massage my shoulders I about moaned in ecstasy.

"What are you doing?"

"You have a huge knot in your shoulders." He answered easily. "Just relax; I'll have it out of there in no time."

As if I was going to make him stop! His hands were amazing, and I could feel the tension from the last few weeks just melt away. As he worked on my back I tried to pay attention to Grace as she started flinging sand around, making sure she wasn't going to stick any of it in her mouth.

"Paul, I think you're going to have to start rubbing my back regularly." I sighed once he finished.

"No problem." He smiled. "Let's go in the water."

Paul didn't give me a chance to object. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he grabbed my hand and pulled me up. Then he scooped Grace up and ran towards the water, dragging me behind him. The two of them were laughing, but I was not. As soon as we hit the water a huge wave knocked me down, completely submerging me while the two of them remained above the water without salt water in their eyes.

I came up sputtering and glared daggers at man standing before me holding Grace.

"You jerk! You knew that was going to happen and you let go of my hand!"

He laughed, "You looked like you needed to be cooled down."

"If you weren't holding the baby I would so tackle you right now."

"I'd like to see you try." He winked.

Since I couldn't be as violent as I wanted to be I settled for splashing him and in the process splashed Grace as well. She only smiled and clapped her hands together happily causing Paul and I to smile like idiots at the sight of her happiness. I quickly splashed the two of them again and watched as the process repeated itself again.

"Mama! Mama!"

I laughed and splashed her again. Paul finally decided it was time to retaliate and with his free hand splashed me right in the face. Luckily my eyes were closed and no salt water went in this time, but when I opened them both he and Grace were laughing at me.

"Oh, you two think you're so cute."

"Well, Grace is. I, on the other hand, am devastatingly handsome." Paul said smugly before he splashed me again.

"Dada!" Grace cried excitedly causing both Paul and I to turn to her in surprise.

She was looking at Paul, a smile on her face, and seemed to be waiting for some sort of response. Instead of splashing me or saying anything at all her smiled and kissed her on the cheek before he hugged her close to his body.

"Hey guys!" Cady called as she moved towards us in the water. "I see you're taking advantage of the sun."

"How did you drag Mom away from the wedding plans?" I asked after I spotted Mom sitting on a beach chair under a red and white striped beach umbrella.

"It was hard, but I managed. Speaking of Mom, she's volunteered to watch Grace for a while so you two can have a bit of free time."

"We're fine." Paul replied.

Cady sent me a look that I knew too well, "Mom actually kind of demanded to see her."

"She'll be fine, Paul. Besides once she's gone I can exact my revenge on you." I stated and watched as Paul handed Grace over to my sister.

She seemed to settle into Cady's arms easily and didn't make any fuss at all when she walked away from us and towards where Mom was waiting on the beach.

"Anywa-Ah!"

My plan to attack Paul totally flew out the window when he beat me to it, sending the two of us into an approaching wave. I was cursing and sputtering when I finally came up. Paul, the bastard, had already composed himself and was smirking at me.

"I told you I'd like to see you try." He chuckled.

I didn't even take the time to think it through before I pounced…and it turned out that I probably should have. If I had thought it through I would have realized that there was no way I could take down Paul unless I had the element of surprise on my side, and I definitely did not have that on my side this time. So instead of the two of us careening down into the ocean, he remained standing and held me against his chest after I made contact. I had no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist, which put the two of us in a very compromising position.

"You were supposed to fall."

"Well, I didn't." Paul grinned.

"Shut up and let me down…nicely!"

He did as told, but then proceeded to dunk me. I was only under for a second before he pulled me up and pulled me in close to his body as a huge wave crashed against the two of us. I was sure that if I had been standing on my own it would have knocked me over, but with Paul holding on to me I was just fine. But once the wave was past us he didn't let me go. I looked up at him curiously to see him looking down at me; his expression thoughtful.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Hunter was right."

"About what? He's been right about a lot of things."

"That there's passion between the two of us."

I scoffed a bit nervously, my heart accelerating inside my chest, "Don't be absurd; we just annoy each other."

"I don't know about that; I'm definitely not annoyed by you right now." He said a bit huskily as his face drew nearer to mine.

"Well, I'm annoyed with you." I said quickly, effectively stopping his advance. "If I had been the one dunking you in the water I'm sure you would feel the same."

"Maybe, maybe not." He grinned. "But I think we should at least test Hunter's theory. As a psychologist he would probably appreciate the fact that we were willing to test this variable."

"What are you talking about? Testing the variable?"

"Shut up, Sadie." He said before he closed the distance that was left between our lips. I was frozen in place at the first feel of his soft lips on mine, but after a few seconds I felt myself responding to the gentle pressure he was placing on my lips.

A few minutes later found the two of us making out in the Pacific Ocean. We probably would have stayed that way for a while if it wasn't for the huge wave that crashed into the two of us, sending us into the water. When the two of us finally resurfaced we looked at each other for a minute before he grabbed onto me again and pressed a quick kiss on my lips.

"Admit it; Hunter was right." Paul whispered against my lips.

"Fine, but we don't have to tell him that."

After another quick kiss the two of us walked out of the ocean and headed to where Cady and Mom sat on a blanket playing with Grace. Cady looked up as we approached and jumped up to stop us before we reached the blanket.

"Were you two just making out in the ocean or were my eyes deceiving me?" Cady grinned.

I blushed and looked down at my feet, but Paul was more than happy to answer in a smug tone, "That was us."

"Did Mom see?" I asked quietly.

"I don't think so."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God; I don't need to hear a lecture on public affection."

Cady nodded in understanding. Ever since Mom had become single she had made it a point to tell us how disgusting public affection was. To her hand holding was only slightly appropriate and I shuddered to think of how she would have laid into me on this. I'd seen her go off on Cady before for less than what I had just been doing.

"What is she a prude or something?" Paul asked.

"She's just bitter about her own love life; ignore her." Cady assured him before she led us to the blanket.

"Sadie Marie, what the hell did I just see you doing?"

* * *

Hunter and Paul were arguing when I arrived at the house the next morning. I was early and I had my Mom to thank for that. It was either arrive a half hour early here or be forced to hand write fifteen invitations for Cady's bridal shower. And since my Mom hated my penmanship it would have taken forever and all I would have had to show for it would've been a sore right hand.

As soon as I walked into the house I could hear their angry voices drifting out from the kitchen. The baby monitor was sitting on the side table in the hall and all I could hear where her coos; she could stay up there for a little while longer and be fine.

"You never answered my question the other day." Hunter stated.

"What question?"

"Whether or not you imprinted on Sadie!"

Alright, I was sick of them talking about me in reference to something I hadn't even ever heard of except from the two of them. So, I left behind my manners and marched into the kitchen. Paul was about to reply when the sound of my footsteps on the tile floor alerted them of my presence. They turned to look at me almost in unison and I folded my arms across my chest.

"What the hell is imprinting and why is my name involved with it?"

"You're early." Hunter stated.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, we have to tell her now." Paul sighed.

"What the hell is the answer anyway, Paul?" Hunter asked desperately.

Paul drew in a breath and ran a hand through his hair, "I didn't imprint on Sadie."

In the next few minutes that followed I witnessed a side of Hunter I had never seen before. He was really angry; the kind of angry that had his fists clenching and his jaw tightening. I'd seen Paul like this a few times, but it was definitely a different side of the psychologist I had come to know.

"Then what the hell are you doing messing with her emotions?!"

"I tried not to, but I've waited too long, Hunter. Who's to say I'll even imprint anyway? And what kind of love is forced love anyway? Isn't it better that I choose the person I love?"

"Whoa, why are we talking about love now? I just kissed the guy."

"Yeah, that's the problem." Hunter said before he turned his anger back on Paul.

"Okay, I want to know what all of this imprint stuff is now." I demanded hating that I almost had the urge to slam my foot down on the floor.

The two of them exchanged a look before they led me into the living room and sat me down on the couch. Hunter did the talking in his soothing therapist voice; the voice that made me trust him completely. Even though what he was telling me sounded like the biggest load of bull shit I had ever heard in my life I knew that Hunter had no reason to lie to me about it.

"So, Paul is a wolf but you're not?"

"Yup."

"But why?"

"Just didn't work that way." Hunter shrugged.

"So, what you're telling me is that Seth imprinted on my sister?"

The two of them nodded.

"So he was forced to love her?"

"It was more of a nudge into her direction; you know as well as we do that he truly loves her, Sadie." Hunter explained gently. "But you need to understand that it's not fair to you to become involved with Paul. I was wrong to push the two of you together, but I thought he had imprinted on you. You see…if you two were to embark on a relationship there would always be the chance that he could imprint on someone and then you would be left in the dust."

"Even if there is something between us we should ignore it?"

"No we shouldn't." Paul said fiercely as he dislodged Hunter from his position crouching in front of me. He then took my hands in his own and looked up into my eyes.

"No one has imprinted since Seth and there had been no new wolves in years. If I was going to imprint I would have done so already." Paul explained. "Hunter is right, but that doesn't mean that we have to ignore our feelings. But it's entirely up to you."

I nodded as I looked back and forth between the two of them. My head was spinning with all of this new information. There was no doubt in my mind whether that kiss yesterday had been true. It was the first time I had ever felt something like that. I didn't have much experience with men, but I had enough to know the difference between a kiss and a _kiss._

"I think it's only fair to tell her about Sam and Leah." Hunter added.

Paul didn't look too happy about that but kept his mouth shut and let Hunter explain.

"Sam and Leah were in love with each other; they had been throughout most of high school, and they had plans to get married. But that all changed when Sam turned into a wolf and met Leah's cousin, Emily."

"And he imprinted on her." I finished already knowing that Emily was Sam's imprint.

Hunter nodded solemnly, "Leah was devastated and she has never really recovered."

Talk about a lot of information to process. Luckily I was saved from having to say something to the two of them by the sound of Grace's cries.

"Duty calls."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit to** **Boys Like Girls**

**I knew when I posted the previous chapter that I would get mixed reactions. I'm aware that some of you did not like what happened at all, but the majority seemed to be okay with it and only a little distressed about what would happen next. I just wanted to say that I didn't want to write another typical imprint story; I wanted to challenge myself and I knew that not all of you would be happy with that. All I can ask is that you guys wait and see what I do with this story before you abandon it. But if you want a cookie cutter imprint story…this isn't it. **

**Anyway, this is the last chapter for a little while since I'm leaving tomorrow for Spring Break, but I might write during the drive and maybe I'll be able to upload at the hotel if I feel like it.

* * *

**

"_Get up and go_

_Take a chance and be strong_

_Or you could spend your whole life holding on."_

**Go

* * *

**

I didn't freak out until I was on my way up the stairs to Grace's room. A werewolf?! What the hell? Those things were not supposed to exist and neither were vampires! Especially not blood sucking vampires! And if mythological beasts wasn't enough for me to deal with, I also had to process the fact that these wolves imprinted on women much like baby ducks imprint on their mother.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts for a second as I leaned down and picked Grace up out of her crib. It only took me a second to determine what was wrong with her when a waft of nastiness met my nose. I was in the middle of changing her diaper when I heard someone enter the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hunter asked.

"No! He's a wolf! Seth is a wolf! Hell, everyone's a wolf!" I hissed, not wanting to frighten Grace with yelling or alert Paul of what was being discussed up here. "It's not normal…it's not human!"

"I'm not a wolf."

"And this imprinting stuff," I continued as I finished up Grace's diaper, "I've watched how much Seth adores my sister and if that's what will happen when Paul imprints I don't want any part of it. I will not set myself up to be abandoned."

"I understand." Hunter nodded and took Grace from my arms.

He then placed her back in her crib and walked back over to me and grabbed my shoulders in his large hands. I forced my gaze up to his and waited for his soothing therapist voice to wash over me. Right now Hunter felt like my only grip on reality, especially when there was the issue of wolves and vampires at hand.

"As your therapist I'd advise just staying friends with Paul. Not only are you leaving at the end of the summer but if your romantic relationship was to develop more and he imprinted, it would only set you back in your recovery. Even if Paul didn't imprint, that fear would always be there."

"So what advice do you give me as my friend?" I asked quietly.

"The same; I don't want to see you hurt again, Sadie. You've come too far to let something stop you now."

I nodded and let myself be pulled into his comforting arms. We stood there for a little while until I finally spoke up.

"Remember how you said I need to confront my Father?" I asked against his chest.

"Yeah."

"I want to do that. I want to go back home with a clean slate."

And I did. I had been thinking about it and I had determined that Hunter was right, as he usually was. Confronting my Father was the only way to finally get past everything I had been dealing with for years and it needed to be done now. That way when I went back home to Michigan I could start over with a new state of mind.

"I'll arrange it." Hunter replied. "Now, do you want me to talk to Paul or do you want to?"

"I'll do it, but will you be there when I do it?"

He nodded, "Of course I will. And as for the wolf stuff…how do you feel? Do you need a demonstration?"

"Flabbergasted, and scared that vampires exist. And no, I'd rather not see him turn into a wolf; at least if I don't see it it'll be easier to pretend it isn't real when I'm back home."

"I don't think Michigan really has a problem with vampires, so don't worry about that. Just don't tell anyone what you've learned here today."

I scoffed, "As if I would; they'd probably lock me up."

Hunter chuckled before he disengaged his arms from around me. After we both checked on Grace again, who happened to be sleeping peacefully, we walked back downstairs where Paul was sitting on the couch. He looked up as the two of us walked in and sent me a hesitant smile. I responded with one of my own and sat down next to him on the couch. Hunter then sat beside me, providing me comfort with his proximity.

I decided to just get it out there, "I'm sorry Paul; I can't set myself up for that kind of abandonment."

"But there's something between us-"

"It will have to be ignored. I'll still be your friend, but obviously if you didn't imprint on me I'm not meant for you that way. It's better this way; I'm leaving in a few weeks."

"Did Hunter tell you to do this?" Paul asked angrily, his eyes flashing towards Hunter.

"No, I made my own decision. He did offer his advice both professionally and as my friend and I decided to take it."

"Bullshit! I knew you had something for her Richards!" Paul hissed and stood up from the couch.

"Paul, come on you know it's not like that." Hunter inserted.

"Do I?" And with that he stormed out of the house, the door slamming shut behind him.

I sighed, "Well, that went great."

"He'll understand; I'll make him understand." Hunter promised.

* * *

Sadly, Paul obviously did not want to take me up on my offer to be friends. I still took care of Grace, but he made sure he was always gone before I arrived, leaving Hunter to greet me both in the mornings and the afternoons.

Hunter had told me that he tried to talk to him, but Paul was stubborn (as we all knew) and it was going to take some time before he finally came around. But my time in La Push was already close to an end. It was already only a week until the wedding and when I wasn't watching Grace I was frantically helping my Mom and sister put last minute touches on everything.

Cady had been just as shocked as Hunter was to hear that Paul had not imprinted on me and even more surprised that he had been deliberately avoiding me. In fact, she was angry at him but after Seth talked to her she had calmed down and stopped threatening to go over and kick his ass. Most of all I was thankful that she understood why I couldn't put myself in that position; she knew what it was like to be abandoned too.

It was time for me to go in and take care of Grace. By the time I got there, just Hunter's car was parked in the driveway and he was the one to greet me at the door.

"Sadie, I've called in at the office today and we're going to have our session right here and now."

My brow wrinkled, "Why?"

"Come on inside."

I was confused but I followed him inside anyway, noticing that the baby monitor was in his back pocket instead of Grace in his arms like usual. But when I followed him into the living room everything became clear.

There on the couch sat an older version of Adam Harrison. I recognized him immediately even though I hadn't seen him since I was seven; not even a picture had remained of him after his disappearance. That had been part of Mom's coping mechanism, wipe every reminder of Adam Harrison from her life, except for the two things she could never get rid of: Cady and I.

His hair was gray more than dark brown now, down to the goatee on his chin. His brown eyes were surrounded by a pair of bifocals and I could see what looked like a little belly under his dark blue polo shirt.

Just as I had been checking him over his eyes were taking me in, a small smile on his face.

"You're beautiful." He whispered.

I just stood there unsure of what to do or say. I know that I had told Hunter I was ready to face him, but I didn't think I would face him face to face; I thought maybe we'd call him or something. I didn't think I could do this and already I could feel tears pricking at the back of my eyes. Hunter must have sensed my distress because he immediately came up behind me and wrapped a comforting arm around my middle and whispered in my ear,

"You can do this, Sadie. Sit down in the easy chair and I'll begin."

I nodded and finally forced myself to move from the spot I had been frozen in. Once I was seated in the easy chair Hunter took a seat on the couch where my Father sat.

"Adam, I've asked you here as part of Sadie's treatment. I'll let her explain to you why she needed to have treatment, but I brought you here because I feel that this meeting with you will well and truly put her on the path to a normal, happy life."

My Father nodded in understanding before he turned questioning eyes on me. I sucked in a breath, trying to gather all of my scrambling thoughts. My heart was racing and my face felt hot; and I knew there was no way I could get through this without tears.

"How have you been, Sadie?" He asked gently.

My eyes snapped up to meet his from where I had been staring at my hands trying to formulate what to say.

"Is that all you can ask me after sixteen years?" I snapped. "Do you want to know how I've been? I'll tell you, I'll tell you about Cady and Mom too. She's getting married you know, in about a week and guess what? She has no Father to walk her down the aisle."

"I could-"

"No, what bride wants to be given away by a man who didn't even see her grow up? In fact she doesn't even need any man to walk her down the aisle; if anyone should do it, it should be me. After you left we practically had to raise each other, because Mom was so emotionally unavailable. But that's not even the worst of it. I don't know if you know this but the day you decided to leave and left the two of us waiting for you to pick us up from school I fell and cracked my head open. I was in a coma for a couple of days and when I woke up I wondered where you were. I wondered why you hadn't come to see me when I could have died. And then finally Mom told me you were gone and yet I still couldn't understand why you would leave us at all."

I took a steadying breath and looked at Hunter. Hunter sent me an encouraging look as if to say I had every right to be angry and I turned back to my Father again. I knew I probably sounded harsh, but I couldn't help it.

"Ever since that day I've lived with the memory of that day and now I know that I suffered with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from it. Even when Cady and I found your letters when we were sixteen we couldn't forgive you. Who leaves their children just because they don't like the life their spouse makes them lead? It's called a divorce, not abandonment."

"I was wrong-"

"I'm not finished." I snapped. "And then you had the nerve to tell Mom that you remarried and had a _son._ A son that 'reminded' you of Cady and I and made you 'miss' us. Well if you truly missed us you would have sought us out. So don't think that now that Hunter has invited you here you can work your way back into our lives. You lost that privilege years ago."

Surprisingly I wasn't crying, but I was shaking; shaking with anger. Anger I had kept hidden for years, never having an outlet for it. And now it was alright because that anger was being directed at the right person; the person that had caused that anger in the first place.

"Your Mother never told me you were in a coma."

"You had just left us! How would she have found you? You can't even comprehend what you did to our lives while you met some new woman and made a new family for yourself."

My Father looked towards Hunter, "Shouldn't she give me a chance to explain?"

"As Sadie's friend I don't see what there is for you to explain, jack ass. But as her therapist I think it is up to her to decide if she needs an explanation or not."

"I think I already got all the explanation I'm gonna get out of you in that letter we found." I stated. "Sorry Mom wanted things to be too perfect for you. And you know what's funny about that? That all changed once you left."

"I was wrong, but by the time I realized that it was too late."

"Yup, it's too late. We managed this long without you and I'm sure we can continue on for even longer. Go back to your new family and try not to mess it up this time." And with that I was done.

I didn't even give him a chance to reply; I got up off of the easy chair and walked up the stairs to get Grace ready for the day. By the time I came back downstairs my Father was gone and Hunter was smiling at me proudly. And that's when the dam broke.

With Grace in my arms I threw myself at Hunter and sobbed at his shoulder. Hunter held me as tightly as he could with the baby in between the two of us and let me get it all out; even though I was sure he would probably have a huge wet spot on his shirt.

"I'm very proud of you, Sadie."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit to** **One Republic, however I am using Silverstein's version.**

**I didn't get a chance to write at all during my break; I was too busy. Anyway I wrote this whole chapter last night once I got back to my dorm room. I spent a lot of my free time thinking of what I was going to do with this story and I never did decide on anything. But when I was writing this chapter last night my characters just kind of took control and you guys will see the result in the next few chapters.  


* * *

**

"_It's too late to apologize_

_It's too late…"_

**Apologize

* * *

**

Today was the day we had been waiting for all summer. Cady and Seth were getting married today. The house was in a state of chaos by eight and Seth was kicked out by nine thirty. The wedding was on the beach at four and that only gave us about six hours to get ready.

Today was all about teamwork, so while Mom worked on Cady's hair I did her makeup. And despite the fact that I jabbed her in the eye with the eyeliner twice she still had a smile on her face especially after she slapped me on the arm.

"Can you believe that I'm getting married today?" She asked dreamily as both Mom and I stood back to look at what we had accomplished.

"No, I can't. Now quit reminding me or I'll cry." Mom replied. "Now do you like your hair?"

"It looks great Mom, and Sadie, despite the fact you almost poked my eye out my makeup looks nice as well."

Cady's long brown hair cascaded down her back in loose curls just the way Seth liked it. Mom had added a spare white daisy we had hanging around from the flower arrangements to the side of her hair, giving her the total wedding at the beach feel.

"Your turn Sadie." Cady laughed manically as Mom pushed me down in the chair Cady had previously occupied.

By the time the three of us made it to the beach it was three thirty and most of the guests were already there sitting in the folding chairs that had been placed on the beach facing the little arch Cady and Seth were being married under. Personally the arch reminded me of weddings that took place in The Sims, but when I mentioned that to my Mom and sister they had only shot me a look.

"Sadie, go down and make sure everything is set up correctly please." Mom ordered as she pulled Cady closer for inspection of her makeup. I nodded my head and took my heels off before I hit the sand. I honestly didn't understand why we had even bothered with matching shoes since we were walking down the aisle barefoot anyway, but it was what Mom wanted.

"You look beautiful." Hunter smiled as he approached me in a pair of khaki slacks and a dark blue button down shirt. A moment passed between the two of us that I recognized as a clichéd movie moment when the two of us just stared at each other before I broke the connection.

I smiled a bit shyly, "Thank you, but Cady is the star today, not me."

He gave me a smile that showed he was going to humor me before he asked: "So how are the troops?"

"I've been ordered to make sure everything is set up correctly." I replied as my eyes scanned the gathering area; glad that we seemed to be off of the previous topic. Everything seemed to be just as Mom had specified, so I wasn't too worried. Instead I let my gaze rest on where Grace was perched in Paul's arms.

"I think Grace wants to see you; she was asking for Mama this morning." Hunter smiled knowingly as he followed my gaze to Grace.

"Paul won't mind if I go up to him?" I asked nervously.

"I think he's finally realized what a jerk he was."

"Will you come over with me?"

"Of course."

Grace noticed me first as Paul's gaze remained directed towards where Jared and Sam seemed to be having a conversation near the ocean.

"Mama!"

That immediately caught his attention as his head practically snapped around to face Hunter and me as we approached. I watched his face carefully as he took the two of us in. His gaze roamed over Hunter for a few seconds before he turned his attention on me. He stared at me before he gave me a slight smile. I hesitantly shot him one of my own before Grace started to reach out for me.

"She's been asking for you." Paul stated as he handed her over to me.

I nodded my head and hugged Grace close. I kissed her forehead and laughed when she immediately started to play with my necklace. The necklace didn't entertain her long and before I knew it she was reaching out towards Hunter.

"Can I talk to you for a minute alone?" Paul asked after I handed Grace over to her other uncle.

"Of course." I replied.

Paul led me away from the wedding area and down towards the ocean. The water hit my feet and I let out a shriek as I hastily pulled up my dress. I could only imagine what Mom would say if I came back with the bottom of my dress wet and covered in sand. Paul laughed at me until he remembered what we were here for.

"I was an ass."

"Yeah you were."

"Hey, I don't need you agreeing with me."

"If the shoe fits…"

"Well what about you? I didn't see you making an effort to talk to me!"

"Yeah and risk you going all wolfy on me? In case it escaped your notice; you have a bad temper."

"Like I would phase in front of you, Sadie. I may literally be a beast, but I would never hurt you."

The two of us stared at each other for a minute, scowls on both of our faces until almost in unison we broke out into laughter.

"I think I like our relationship that way better." Paul stated. "Not arguing all the time, but…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I agreed before I remembered our day on the beach not too long ago. "Then what did the kiss mean?"

"We're both passionate people, but you're right. It's best if the only way we are passionate with each other is through our little disagreements." Paul sighed. "Besides it's clear to me that Hunter likes you."

I blushed at that and scowled when Paul chuckled at me.

"He does not."

"I'm not going to lie to you Sadie, I'd rather have you to myself, but obviously that's not the way it's supposed to be. If it was I would have imprinted on you."

I couldn't help myself as I watched the sadness creep into his eyes again, I had to hug him. Once my arms were wrapped around his neck and his around my middle I whispered in his ear: "You're going to find your imprint one of these days and she'll be a better girl for you than I could have ever been."

Mom was angry that I had taken so long when I finally returned to where the two of them were waiting for me. She scolded me for about two minutes before Cady announced it was time to get the show on the road. Immediately after that announcement both my Mom and I surrounded Cady with our arms. Mom's eyes were glistening when we pulled away and after a second I realized that mine were too.

"Alright, I'm going to sit down now." Mom said after she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. "Remember what I told you about walking down the aisle, Sadie."

I rolled my eyes with a smile, "Yeah yeah, just go sit down."

She had only been gone for about a heartbeat when we heard her distinctive yell. Cady and I exchanged panicked looks.

"You stay here, I'll go investigate." I ordered Cady. "Whatever it is, I'll take care of it."

I had been prepared to deal with something like a messed up floral arrangement or loose ribbon on the arch, not the sight of my Mom facing down Adam Harrison. Everyone else seemed to be stunned into silence as I ran up to where my two parents stood in each other's presence after sixteen years.

"Mom, I'll handle this."

"Did you invite him?!"

"No! Now just go sit down."

I was surprised she listened to me as she walked to the front row of chairs and sat down in her designated seat; a seat that did not have another chair by it for the Father.

"You are not welcome here." I stated as I turned my attention back to my Father.

"Cady is my daughter and I will see her married."

"You didn't see her graduate from either high school or college so why should her wedding be any different?" I shot back.

"I'm staying."

"No, you're not. You've already caused enough shit in our life and I will not have you ruining Cady's day."

I knew that most children would not get away with talking to their Father like that no matter the age, but I figured I was entitled to since he really wasn't much of a Dad to me anyway. But even though I was ordering him to leave and he was receiving death stares from almost everyone he would not budge.

"I think what she asked is pretty clear, Harrison." Hunter spat as he walked up to stand beside me. "Leave. You're not welcome here by any of us."

"You have sixty seconds before we forcefully remove you." Paul added as he came up on the other side of me.

"I won't leave until I hear Cady say she doesn't want me here."

Both Hunter and Paul started to move in on my Father but I grabbed both of their hands and held them back.

"Cady has a right to know he's here." I sighed. "I can't keep this from her."

With that said I inclined my head towards my Father and silently led him to where Cady was waiting to find out what was going on. As the two of us walked into sight I saw her eyes widen at the sight of our Father walking along behind me before she turned those eyes on me.

"Sadie, what's going on?"

"He won't leave unless you tell him that you don't want him here."

"Okay…but why is he here?" Cady asked as her eyes roamed over him.

"Hunter brought him here for part of my treatment and I guess he decided to crash the wedding before his return to his _other_ family."

"Can I have a few moments alone with him?"

I nodded my head before I turned and walked away to give the two of them some privacy. Even though I couldn't hear the two of them I could see Cady's face as she started talking to him. She looked angry and I wondered if she was saying all of the same things I had earlier.

After a few minutes our Father walked away dejected and Cady walked up to me with tears in her eyes. Neither of us said a word as I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. She didn't deserve this on what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

"Who's going to walk me down the aisle?" She asked sadly. "I don't have a Dad."

I nodded in understanding, "I'm going to walk you down the aisle, Cady."

She smiled and with a smile of my own I reached out and grabbed her hand in mine.

* * *

"Care to dance?"

I looked up from where I had been staring at Seth and Cady dancing close together on the dance floor and up into Hunter's eyes. His hand was held out in offering and without answering I placed my hand in his and allowed him to lead me over to the dance floor.

"Professionally speaking I think you're coming along brilliantly." Hunter smiled.

"How about friendly speaking?"

"I'm proud of you, but I think I've already told you that." He replied with a wink. "So, how did your conversation with Paul go?"

I decided it was best to leave out the little tidbit about Hunter 'liking' me and instead told him that both Paul and I agreed that we were meant to have a friendship not a romance.

"Besides I wouldn't be a good imprint to him or anyone for that matter."

"What makes you say that?"

"Being someone's imprint comes with a lot of pressure. An imprint holds the power to destroy a wolf in the palm of her hand. I've seen Seth; Cady's slightest pain causes him great pain and believe me Hunter, I will continue to have a lot of pain in my life. I might be getting better, but scars will always remain."

"Maybe what you need is a wolf to imprint on you; you deserve to be treated as the center of someone's world." Hunter stated as we gently swayed back and forth to the music.

"I don't want someone to fall in love with me because they have to."

"You know that's not the way it works."

"I want to be noticed by a guy because he's genuinely interested, not because fate says he needs to." I argued.

Imprinting was great; there was no doubt about that. It was the perfect kind of situation for women like my sister and Emily but I knew that it wasn't right for me. Imprintation would be too easy of a fix for my abandonment and trust issues; it would be obvious that that wolf would never leave me therefore I wouldn't have to come to trust him on that level. However, with my circumstances I needed to learn to trust a man the right way if I ever wanted to truly put those fears behind me.

I explained my reasoning to Hunter and watched as he processed it all. Finally after what seemed like hours to me he twirled me around before he pulled me back into his arms.

"You're absolutely right."


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit Owl City**

**I must say that this chapter is necessary to the future development of the story and is longer so that I don't have to drag out this part of the story for more than one chapter. So bear with me please :) Thanks again for all of the reviews and alerts!

* * *

**

"_As many times as I blink I think of you tonight…_

_When violet eyes get brighter and heavy wings grow lighter_

_I'll taste the sky and feel alive again. _

_I'll forgot the world that I knew_

_but I swear I won't forget you._

_Oh if my voice could reach back through the past I'd whisper in your ear:_

_oh darling I wish you were here!"_

**Vanilla Twilight

* * *

**

Today was my last day in La Push. Cady and Seth were off in California on their honeymoon for a week so we had already said our goodbyes when they left the reception. Even though Mom and I were going back to Michigan I knew that there would be plenty of visits, especially when the two of them started to have children.

Although home was appealing, there was a part of me that didn't want to leave. I liked my job as Grace's nanny and Paul's finance lady and I knew that I would feel a little lost without my sessions with Hunter. But it was time I started my adult life, just as Cady had by marrying Seth.

"Grace is going to miss you." Paul stated as he walked in into Grace's room.

I was in the middle of changing her diaper but glanced up to look into Paul's sad eyes. He looked like a wounded dog and I wanted nothing more than to hug him at the moment.

"In a month she'll forget about me." I sighed, not liking that thought at all.

"I won't."

"Aw Paul, you're going to make me cry." I sniffed before I threw myself into his warm arms.

He pulled me close and buried his face in my hair as Grace laid on the changing table looking up at the two of us curiously, her new diaper firmly in place. He held onto me for a while until Grace let out a little cry clearly stating that she was sick of being ignored by the two of us.

I wiped away my eyes before I put her little pants back on and swung her up into my arms. After I gave her a big noisy kiss on the cheek I turned a watery smile on Paul.

"You'll forget about me too when you find your imprint."

"No, I won't." Paul said firmly. "Now let's stop this crying and enjoy our last day together. How about we go kidnap Hunter and get some ice cream?"

* * *

"Mom, why aren't you packed?! Hunter is coming at eight in the morning to take us to the airport!"

After the ice cream outing and some tearful goodbyes between Grace, Paul, and me I had come back to see that Mom was sitting on the couch watching TV instead of packing up all of her stuff. At first I had thought that she was already done, but a quick look into her room proved that she hadn't done a thing! In fact, her suitcase was still under the bed!

"I'm not going back to Michigan."

"What do you mean you're not going back to Michigan?" I asked as I crossed my arms across my chest and narrowed my eyes at her.

"I mean that I'm moving here. So when you get home I want you to start packing up the house and put it up for sale. Sue says she has an apartment above her garage she'd be more than happy to rent out to me."

"But what about-"

"You can stay in the house until you find a job and your own place, but I can't live there anymore, Sadie. I don't even know how I lived there as long as I did after he left. Anyway, you'll know what stuff I'll want sent to me; the rest of it you can decide what to do with."

I was at a loss for words. I was feeling a myriad of emotions all at once. I was scared to go back to Michigan where I really didn't have anyone and I was angry that Mom seemed to be picking Cady over me. The adult part of me understood her motives of course; she would have grandchildren here soon. But the child in me was just a little bit jealous.

"You're going to be fine Sadie. I know you'll figure something out for yourself. You've always had that strength unlike your sister. You're more independent than she is, even when you two were babies. Your sister would always have to be rocked to sleep but as soon as you were laid down you were out like a light and always the first up and out of the crib too."

After a few more instructions for the sale of the house I walked into the room I had been using and started packing numbly. This summer had been such a roller coaster of emotions and just when I thought things were starting to calm down I was up another incline again about to take a dive.

I didn't blame Mom for wanting to get rid of the house; I would be glad to see it gone once a deal was made with someone. There had been happy memories there, but everything was always overshadowed by the fact that Adam Harrison had turned that house into what it was. He had remodeled it with only the help of three other men; so even when he wasn't there physically there were traces of him all around the house.

I would go back to Michigan and do as Mom asked, but I honestly did not know what my future held past that.

* * *

"Where is your Mom?"

"She's staying here."

Hunter paused, my suitcase in hand, on the way to his car.

"You mean she's going to live here?"

I nodded my head, "I'm to go back home and sell the house."

"What about you? How do you feel about this?" He asked as he loaded up my stuff in the trunk.

I sighed, "Well, I don't really have a choice but I understand her reasoning."

He nodded in understanding and finished loading me up before he joined me in the front of the car and turned the key in the ignition. The two of us remained quiet for a while down the road until finally I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye.

"I want you to continue your treatment back home." Hunter began. "I've done some research into the professionals around where you live and I think you should look into seeing Roxanne Gilbert. I put her information in one of your bags while I was loading and I've already faxed her office your file."

"Well, thanks for asking me." I said a little snottily.

He chuckled, "No need for the attitude, you know you need to continue this."

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't expect to be going back alone."

"This is going to sound cheesy, but I'm only a phone call away."

I smiled a little bit at that; he was right… it was cheesy. But it was true. I probably would be making a lot of calls to Washington once I was back home and not just to him either.

The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence; Hunter was concentrated on the road and I was lost in my thoughts as I watched the green scenery pass by outside. It was definitely green here and while it would still be green when I arrived home it would shortly turn into vivid shades of red, orange and yellow. I smiled a bit at that thought; fall in Michigan was beautiful and definitely welcome after being exposed to so much green here. However, once all of those leaves fell winter would set in and I would be surrounded by white snow. But hey, snow is prettier than rain.

"Alright this is where we say goodbye." Hunter said after we reached the point where he could no longer accompany me.

"And this is where I get all emotional." I chuckled as I already felt tears in my eyes.

Hunter smiled gently and brought his hands up to clasp my arms. He held me at arm's length and ducked his head to my level so he was looking into the watery eyes I was trying to hide.

"Hey, you're going to be fine. This isn't goodbye forever; I'm sure you'll be back here in a little while. Your other half lives here after all."

I chuckled at that, but couldn't help but finally voice the concern I had had all summer, "What if I can't find a job?"

"We'll figure something out, Sadie. Now come here."

He dropped his hands from my arms and opened his arms to me. I was more than happy to walk into his arms and bury my face in his chest. He held me tight for a few minutes while I got a grip of myself and my watery eyes. Then finally the two of us separated and after I grabbed my carry on I walked away with a small smile.

"See you later, Sadie." He called after me.

"See you later, Hunter." I called back over my shoulder.

* * *

Packing up my Mom's stuff was easier than I thought it would be. With a little music on in the background, wrapping numerous pieces of antiques and china was actually kind of fun…even when I almost broke my Mom's favorite vase. Listing the house was easy too, but after two weeks there were still no bites. I wasn't surprised though and I needed the extra time anyway.

While I had been able to find a job at an accounting office a few towns away, my search for my own place was not going well. Mostly because my job didn't pay much and I wasn't sure yet whether or not I liked it well enough to make the commitment to move.

In the two weeks I had been home I had only talked to Mom twice and my sister once. I was avoiding talking to Hunter because I still hadn't called up Roxanne Gilbert's office like he wanted me to. And I hadn't talked to Paul because Cady informed me he had a big project he was working on at the moment, but she wouldn't tell me what it was.

I was in the middle of packing up the stuff left behind in our childhood bedroom when the phone rang. I hurriedly threw the stuffed elephant in my hand into the box and rand out into the hallway where the phone sat on a table between the master bedroom and the bathroom.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sadie."

"Hunter…hi."

"You sound guilty." Hunter chuckled. "I take it that you haven't seen Dr. Gilbert yet?"

I sighed, "No, but I will soon."

"Okay. Well, I guess that explains why I haven't heard from you."

I blushed, "Yeah…"

"Your sister told me you got a job."

"I did, but I'm not sure if it's what I want."

"It's in accounting isn't it?"

"Yeah," I began, "but I liked what I was doing for Paul much better. I liked the one on one. Not only does my salary suck, but I don't get to meet the people whose numbers I'm working on."

"Keep looking."

"I am."

"How is the house coming along?" He asked.

"Good. I'm almost done packing it all up, now all I need is some interested buyers. I still haven't found my own place yet, but I'll figure that out later. Anyway, how is Grace?"

Hunter sighed, "Paul and I can tell she misses you; we all do."

Our phone call lasted for a few more minutes until I hung up feeling lonelier than I had in the past two weeks. The house had never seemed so big to me before, but now that it was empty it felt almost like an eerie mansion; although it was far from being a mansion.

I missed everyone.

I stood staring at the phone for a while before I finally dug around for that piece of paper and dialed the number.

* * *

"Hello Sadie, I'm Roxanne Gilbert."

I looked up from the magazine in my lap and up at my new therapist. I hadn't been waiting in her waiting room long and I was happy to see that she had personally come to get me. I smiled at her as I set the magazine aside and stood up.

"If you'll follow me we can get started." She smiled.

As I followed her down the hallway and to her office I took in the sight of my new Doctor. The most obvious thing about her was her height. She towered over me in her three inch black heels and I knew that even without those beastly things I'd still be staring up into her bright green eyes. She was definitely younger than I had expected; probably twenty seven or so unlike the forty seven I had been picturing. And her hair…it was to die for. A deep rich red in loose curls that I'm sure many other women lusted over.

I pulled myself out of my musings when we reached her office and took a seat on the large black couch as she took a seat in a comfortable arm chair. Just like Hunter she had nothing in her hands and seemed to have her attention solely on me.

"We both know I have all your information in your chart, but how about you tell me about yourself?"

It was surprisingly easy to pour my heart out to her now that I had become accustomed to doing so with Hunter session after session. I didn't stop at my past though, I continued to tell her about the summer leaving out the part about mythical beasts and imprinting of course.

"It seems like you've had quite a summer of change." She stated evenly. "How do you feel about being here alone with both your Mother and sister across the country?"

"I understand my Mom's reasoning, but a part of me is jealous and a bit resentful."

"Are you angry at your sister?"

"No… more so at my Mom. Cady has a husband; I don't understand why Mom thinks she needs her too. I understand that there will be grandchildren but it feels like she just shuffled all of her business over to me. She didn't ask me to go home and sell the house, she told me to."

"And what do you get from that?"

"Anything I want to keep and a place to stay until I find my own." I replied a bit resentfully.

Roxanne looked thoughtful for a minute, "You said that after your Father left your Mother ceased to be a Mom for a while. Would it be accurate to say that she never truly stepped back into that role?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "She did as a Mom is supposed to do while we planned Cady's wedding and she was genuinely happy for her."

"That role is easy to fill though." Roxanne pointed out.

"You know she fed me a line about how I am more independent than my sister."

She nodded her head, "I don't know your Mother, but it sounds to me like she's there when it's easy. Selling the house that she hates sounds like too much work so why not pass it off? A wedding is easy for her to deal with; no negative emotions. You, unlike your sister, are still filled with these negative emotions from your Father and that is what she wants to avoid."

"She did automatically assume I invited him to the wedding when he crashed." I added almost to myself. "Are you saying that she resents me or something?"

"No, but I would guess that you make her face her own suppressed emotions unlike your sister who at the moment is going through the happiest times of her life."

"So what should I do?"

"I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is that you should try to communicate to your Mom about these things." She replied. "Well, I think we've covered a lot today. I hope I'll see you again in a few weeks alright?"

"Yeah."

* * *

I was anticipating the Petty's arrival with a hint of dread. They seemed seriously interested in buying the house and I was nowhere near ready to move out of the house. I still had no prospects for a living space and each day I hated my job more and more.

But I had business to do, so I cleaned the house until it shined and waited for the newlywed couple to arrive. I had decided not to mess with realtors and instead put a sign in the yard that said: For Sale By Owner. After the house was to my liking I quickly dressed myself appropriately and waited.

At exactly three o' clock, just as they said, the Petty's arrived with a tag along. A tag along that happened to be my therapist, Roxanne Gilbert.

"Sadie?"

"Dr. Gilbert?"

"Roxy, how do you know Sadie?" The new Mrs. Petty asked.

The Petty's were what I considered to be your typical 1950's American newlywed couple. Greg Petty was tall dark and handsome and his wife, Lynette, was short with strawberry blonde hair and a kind smile. But as I looked closer I noticed that both Lynette and Roxanne had the same eyes. And with the way the two of them looked at each other I could only assume that they were sisters.

"Sadie and I have a professional relationship." Roxanne replied.

"Oh." Lynette smiled. "Well Sadie, this is my older sister Roxy; we brought her along for her advice."

Inside I cringed because she knew all of the intimate details about the house.

"Alright, let's get started." I smiled my best business smile.

By five o' clock I was shaking hands with the Petty's with a smile. I had sold the house and for the price we had asked for. Roxanne and I exchanged glances; she sent me an encouraging smile and I sent her back an apprehensive one of my own.

"When do you two want to move in?" She asked for me.

"We can wait until you're ready." Lynette replied kindly turning her eyes to me.

"Thank you."

Later that night I picked up the phone and stared at it a minute before I dialed. The phone rang four times before finally he picked up and breathed a 'Hello' into the phone.

"Hunter, I sold the house…but I…don't know what I'm going to do now."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit We The Kings**

**I just wanted to let all of you know (although I have told some reviewers) that I had none of this planned from the beginning. I've had mixed emotions through the whole thing so far and with this chapter I think I've finally accepted and decided what I'm going to do with the rest of it. I hope you guys enjoy it and continue to read and review.

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**

"_My heart beats faster when I'm with you_

'_Cause I know that you, you want me too_

_I swear to hell I'll never leave,_

'_Cause I know one thing_

_Love is all we need."_

**Anna Maria (All We Need)

* * *

**

The Petty's were coming by again today for measurements which meant that I needed to roll out of bed and make myself presentable. But it was hard to put an effort into looking presentable considering what had happened the past few days. I'd quit my job (which I was beginning to really regret right about now), my sister had told me over the phone that she was pregnant, and I still had found no other place to live. There was also the added bonus of missing everyone that made getting up this morning particularly hard.

My second session with Roxanne had been helpful, but since I quit I decided that it was probably best for my purse strings if I held off on our sessions until I found another job; something that wouldn't be too easy in the state of Michigan.

I was about to head into the shower when the doorbell rang. Shit, they were early. Or maybe it wasn't them at all…at least that was what I was hoping for. I was dressed in my pajamas and I could feel that my hair was mussed; not exactly how I wanted to look when I answered the door. I thought about ignoring it for a second before I sighed and raced down the stairs and to the front door.

It wasn't the Petty's, no it was worse. It was Roxanne. She had already seen me come up to the door so I had no choice but to open it to her now.

"Hi Sadie."

"Hi."

"I think we need to talk; not as your therapist but as your friend."

Hmm, that sounded familiar.

I let her into the house and into the living room where the two of us sat down in opposite arm chairs. I waited as she took a breath and turned towards me to begin.

"My sister and brother in law want to move in soon and seem to be under the impression that you have a place lined up, but that isn't the case is it?"

I sighed, "No, and I quit my job."

Roxanne nodded and ran a hand through her thick red hair thoughtfully, "Have you thought about going back to Washington?"

Not exactly. I had definitely been thinking of the place and the people I missed that lived in Washington, but I had never actually considered the idea of going back to Washington for good.

"As in to live?"

"Yes. Your family and friends are there and from what you've told me I know they would be more than happy to help you get onto your feet."

"I just never thought of living there."

"It is odd isn't it?" Roxanne chuckled. "I only moved to Michigan to help my sister out and she certainly doesn't need me now. I haven't told you this, but you remind me a lot of myself. Our Mother died when we were young and our Dad shut down on us. I practically raised my sister from the age of eight. I feel lost now because she doesn't need me anymore; she has Greg. I almost feel like I can't professionally help you because I'm too close to the situation you know?"

"You don't want me to see you anymore?" I asked, feeling my brow wrinkle in confusion.

"No, that's not it at all. I don't want you to see me professionally anymore, but I think that the two of us could benefit from talking as equals." She smiled.

I smiled back, sensing that I might have the beginnings of a true friendship here. All of my life Cady had been my best friend and I had never truly had a best friend that was of my own choosing. As far as I knew Cady didn't even have a best friend like that, but she did have Seth.

"I think I'd like that, Roxanne."

"Call me Roxy please; I feel like an old knitting lady when people call me that."

I chuckled at that and jumped in surprise when the sound of the doorbell rang loudly through the first story of the house. I checked the clock, the Petty's weren't due for another few hours and I honestly didn't know who else would be showing up at my door at nine in the morning.

"Excuse me a minute." I said to Roxy as I got up from the chair and headed to the front door.

I glimpsed a pair of broad shoulders through the window in the door and felt my heart start to race as I hurriedly swung open the door. There standing right in front of me were Hunter and Paul, Grace nowhere to be found. But I wasn't worried about that at the moment instead I launched myself at the two of them.

"I've missed you two so much!"

They both laughed and took turns holding me tight.

"After your phone call to Hunter he informed me that we would be coming to get you whether I liked it or not." Paul stated with a small smile.

"Coming to get me?" I turned confused eyes on Hunter.

"That's right; you belong in Washington."

I smiled and threw my arms around him again before I realized that I still had a guest inside the house and two more waiting outside of the house in the early fall air.

"Come inside, I'll introduce you guys to Roxy."

"Roxy?" Hunter asked curiously as I led them into the living room.

Roxy stood up as the three of us walked into the room and smiled at my two male visitors.

"Roxy, this is Hunter Richards and Paul Riverly. Guys, this is Roxanne Gilbert."

The two psychiatrists were too busy meeting each other and exchanging a few professional anecdotes to notice what was going on with Paul. I, on the other hand, did not miss what was going on with him. As soon as Paul laid eyes on Roxy's tall red headed figure his eyes remained glued to her…and I mean glued. It was like he didn't notice anything else anymore. And when she finally turned to him with a smile his astonishment was almost laughable.

I scooted closer to Hunter while their introduction was taking place and noticed that he seemed to be watching the interaction just as closely as I was.

I looked up at Hunter expectantly, "Did he…?"

"My gosh, I think he's just imprinted."

* * *

I had no clue how we had managed to do it, but Hunter and I managed to get Paul away from Roxy. She had remained when her sister and brother in law arrived to take their measurements. Paul had then proceeded to follow the three of them around the house while Hunter and I finished taping up the boxes I had packed full of my Mom's stuff.

If Roxy had been uncomfortable she hadn't looked it. In fact, she seemed a little sad herself when it was time for them to say goodbye. Of course Paul slipped out the back door once they were gone and tried to follow her home. Somehow Hunter and I had apprehended him and shoved him into the car before he could get all wolfy on us. And now even though he was moping he still had a trace of a smile on his lips.

"I would just like to say that I knew I wasn't the right girl for you, Paul." I stated as I brought a bite of pork chop to my mouth.

"But you did lead him to her." Hunter pointed out.

"Very true; without me you would have never met Roxy."

"What am I going to do?" Paul suddenly cried.

Hunter and I exchanged looks. I didn't understand what he was so upset about; he had finally met his imprint. Wasn't that supposed to be like the ultimate for the wolves?

"You mean the fact that she lives here and you live in Washington?" Hunter asked to which Paul nodded.

Well, that made sense. The three of us had already established the fact that I was going back to Washington no matter what, but now it seemed that Paul would have to leave someone behind in Michigan yet again. Unless…

"You know Roxy was just talking about how her sister doesn't really need her here anymore."

Both of them shot me confused looks.

"Look, I don't know how you wolves go around and tell your imprints that you're a wolf and all, but there is time before we go back to La Push…maybe you could somehow convince her to come along."

Normally I would call that idea total bullshit, but from what I had seen the imprint was some powerful stuff on both ends. I had seen how attracted Roxy had been to Paul today and I had also observed my sister dealing with Seth. It definitely was not one sided.

"Well, we'll leave you to come up with a plan." Hunter grinned as he pushed back his chair and grabbed his empty plate from the table.

"Hunter! We can't just leave him to figure this out all by himself!" I scolded as I grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged him back down into his chair.

"Paul, I'll get her here somehow tomorrow and then with some excuse I'll disappear and you can step in." I said before I stood up and grabbed my plate.

This time Hunter grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled me back down into my chair.

"Sadie! That's all you're going to do to help him?"

"I'm sure as a man you can help him from this point better than I can." And with that said I grabbed my plate and left the dining room quickly before either of them could grab onto my shirt or something.

A few hours later I was almost asleep when the door to the bedroom slowly creaked open. My eyes snapped open to look up at my intruder. All I could make out were a wide pair of shoulders but when he decided to turn on the light and blind me I could tell who it was.

"Paul! Jeez, I was almost asleep!" I squeaked as I covered my eyes.

"You don't have a job, you can sleep in."

"Thanks for the reminder."

He flashed me a grin before he sat down by the side of my bed, staring up at me.

"So, what brings you in here?" I asked curiously.

All I had to say was that it better be pretty damn good since he not only interrupted my sleep but practically blinded me with the overhead light.

"I just feel like an ass again for being angry at you for wanting just a friendship." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know we put that past us, but since Roxy has happened I'm just so relieved that it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. I don't ever want to see you hurt like that."

I threw my covers back and joined Paul on the floor. I threw one of my arms around his shoulders and smiled up at him.

"Don't worry about it; it all worked out for the best didn't it?"

"But what about you?"

"You guys are taking me back to La Push; I'd say I'm pretty satisfied."

Paul smiled, but it was a weak almost sad smile, "You deserve to be treated like the center of someone's world."

"Hunter said the same thing."

"And what did you tell him?"

"That imprinting is not for me. I need to come to trust a man all on my own without the help of magical stuff."

Paul quirked a brow, "What about what I said about Hunter?"

I blushed, "Well, you were wrong. We're friends."

"Mmhmm, yeah."

I let out a long sigh, "I don't think I'm ready for a relationship anyway."

"Why not?"

"I'm still pretty messed up, Paul."

"Well, what you need is the good therapy of coming home and being my finance lady and Grace's nanny again."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Where is Grace anyway?"

"Sam and Emily's." Paul replied. "And yes, I want you to come back and work for me again."

"Where am I going to live? I don't want to intrude on Seth and Cady and I really don't want to live with my Mom in a small apartment."

"You could live with us." Paul shrugged. "It'd make your job a lot easier if you're there all the time anyway."

"And you'd still pay me for that?"

"Yeah and I won't even charge rent."

"Okay, but I went twelve fifty."

"Twelve fifty?! Jeez woman!"

"Hey, if I'm living there that means that you'll expect me to pick up slack that isn't mine to pick up. So I want some compensation for that."

"I'm not charging you rent! I think that's compensation enough!"

"Oh no, I want twelve fifty, buddy."

"Wouldn't it be better to set up a base pay or something? We can't exactly go by hour if you live there."

"Three seventy five?"

"Holy shit woman!"

"It's actually less than what you would owe me if you paid me twelve fifty an hour." I pointed out with a smug smile.

"How does that figure out?" Paul asked skeptically.

"Well let's say each day is about six hours, so multiply twelve fifty by six which is seventy five. Then multiply that by five, for Monday through Friday, and that equals three seventy five. Then, multiply that by four for four weeks in a month and you get fifteen hundred. So, as you can see I'm really only charging you a week's pay for one whole month; a discount." I finished with a smile.

Paul scowled, "I'll give you a place to live, food to eat, and three seventy five a month. Deal?"

"Deal."

We sat there in silence for a few minutes until I started to chuckle a bit. He joined me a minute later and we sat there and laughed for a little while. I could tell I was starting to get delirious with lack of sleep, but I wasn't sure what Paul's excuse was for his girl like giggles.

"You sure you want me living there if you get Roxy to come out there?"

"I have a big house." He grinned.


	15. Chapter 15Important Note

I really hate these things and promised myself I would never do it, but a lot of things have happened today and this needs to be done. I feel it is only fair to let you guys know this. I am **NOT** abandoning the story, and I **WILL** finish it.

However, there has been a death in my family today which has really put me in the wrong frame of mind to write anything. That means that I don't know when I will update, but it'll be before the end of the school year in early May for sure. I just think that if I force myself to write the story right now the story will suffer from it and I don't want to disappoint you guys after you've read it this far already. Thank you for understanding.

-Living Masquerade (a.k.a Molly)


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit Hey Monday**

**I want to thank everyone for understanding my break and especially thank those of you that sent your condolences and prayers for my family; I really appreciated it. However, things do not get easier from here…I am really busy! Not only did I go home last weekend to be with my family, but Easter is this weekend and the following weekend I have a wedding, which means my weeks are full of school work and papers. So I promised I would have this done before I'm done for the year…that gives me until May 7****th****. I should also warn you that this chapter was really hard to write mostly because I haven't quite gotten back into the groove; hopefully the next chapter will be easier for me to write.

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"_Homecoming, I'm coming, my sweet mistake_

_Summer's over, hope it's not too late."_

**Homecoming

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**

Hunter and I weren't very sure what had happened between Paul and Roxy the last few days while we were in Michigan, but judging by the grin that Paul sported things seemed to be alright. He was even wearing it now, sleeping next to me on the plane back to Washington.

"I didn't think it was possible to smile like that in your sleep." I whispered to Hunter who sat on the other side of me reading a newspaper.

He looked up from the comics as I spoke and peered past me at Paul. Hunter chuckled at the sight of the big bad wolf snoring before his eyes returned to mine.

"I guess that's what happens when someone is truly happy." I remarked a bit sadly.

Hunter made a sound that almost sounded like a low growl and grabbed my hand into his much larger one. I stared down a bit dumbly at our interlaced fingers before I looked up at him in confusion.

"You will be happy, Sadie." He said fiercely.

"I'm happy now, Hunter." I assured him with a little smile. "But I don't think I'll ever be as happy as Paul is right now."

"We'll see about that."

I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that, but I didn't have much time to contemplate it since Paul woke up and immediately started to freak out.

"What's going on?!"

Everyone around us turned to look at the large man having a mini panic attack with one of the complimentary pillows clutched in his tan arms. I laughed a little before I turned to Paul to calm him down while Hunter dealt with the concerned flight attendant.

"You alright there, buddy?" I asked trying to contain my laugh…it didn't work very well.

"Don't laugh at me."

"Are you blushing?" I peered closer at his face and sure enough his face seemed to be a bit red, which only caused me to laugh more. "Hunter, Paul is blushing!"

"Lower your voice woman!" Paul hissed as Hunter joined in with my laughter.

"It really suits you, ya know?" Hunter teased.

Paul huffed, crossed his arms, and pointedly turned away from the two of us. A few minutes later he was asleep again snoring up a storm that caused more than just a few people to turn and look. Who knew wolves could be so embarrassing?

However, it was my turn to embarrass everyone when I spotted my sister and Seth waiting for us in the airport. I quickly handed off my carryon bag to Hunter and ran towards my sister. Seth spotted me first and pointed me out to Cady before she turned and ran towards me at full force. We collided in a mess of arms and giggles and stood there until the men decided to join us.

"How's my niece?" I asked as I looked down at her still flat belly.

"Niece?" Seth asked incredulously. "That's all boy in there, Sadie."

Cady rolled her eyes and said in a stage whisper, "I just go along with him and assure him it's a boy, but I'm pretty sure it's a girl."

"Well, of course it is." I smiled a bit mischievously, "Hell, it might even be twin girls."

"Identical even!" Cady added with what resembled an evil chuckle.

Although it would be funny to see Seth saddled with identical twin girls I had a feeling that it wouldn't be Cady that had twins. Instead I had a feeling that whenever I settled down and had children I would be the one to have twins, and knowing my luck they would most definitely be identical. Not that twins weren't great, but as a twin myself I knew all of the ups and downs and wasn't exactly jumping for joy at the thought of raising my own.

Seth's face was one of mild horror so I decided to put him at ease, "Don't worry, I'll probably be the one that has twins."

Seth looked relieved at that, but I saw Hunter and Paul exchange looks followed by a joking elbow from Paul into Hunter's side. What was that all about? I didn't have time to think about it much further as Cady grabbed my hand and started to lead me towards the exit, with the guys following behind us with the luggage.

Most of my stuff had been packed into boxes and sent along with Mom's things, so I had only filled one suitcase with everything I would need immediately in the next week before the boxes arrived. At the moment Hunter was pulling that bag behind him, his own duffle bag across one shoulder as well as my carryon.

"Crap, I'm sorry! Here, I can take my bag, Hunter."

I made a grab for my suitcase that he was wheeling behind himself but he deflected my hand and kept a firm grip on the suitcase handle.

"I've got it."

"Well, let me at least take my carryon." I insisted.

"No, I've got it."

"Let the man carry your bags, Sadie." Cady laughed as she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Hunter and to her side.

* * *

I had been happy to see Hunter and Paul, but when I first caught sight of Grace in Emily's arms I immediately started to cry. Abandoning Paul and Hunter in the car, I threw open the door and ran up to the porch to where Emily stood with Grace in her arms. Emily smiled as I approached and immediately handed Grace over to me as soon as I was close enough to take her into my arms.

"Thanks Emily." I said a bit tearfully.

Emily smiled in return and disappeared into the house to get Grace's stuff. In the mean time I placed a big fat kiss on Grace's cheek and let my eyes rake over her body. She definitely was a little bit heavier than she had been before I left, but I was more concerned with whether or not she recognized me.

"Mama!"

Paul came up behind me then and grabbed the bags from Emily before he turned to me with a smile.

"She remembers me!"

He smiled, "Of course she does; you're her Mom."

I knew our situation was definitely a bit messed up. I was going to be living with two men and their niece who happened to think I was her Mother. How was that supposed to work out when Paul had Roxy and Hunter married in the future? Were Paul and Hunter just going to remain her uncle's or was one of them going to officially become her Father? It was definitely something that needed to be discussed so Grace could lead a somewhat normal life.

The perfect opportunity arose after Grace had been put to bed and I was done unpacking my stuff in the room right next door to Grace's room. The room they had given me wasn't too bad at all and I had the distinct feeling that they had fixed it up with me in mind since it was decorated in my favorite color.

When I came down the stairs the two of them were sitting in the living room watching a game on TV, but when they saw me enter the room Hunter immediately switched it off.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you guys about something."

"Go for it." Paul replied as I took a seat on the couch next to Hunter.

"It's about Grace. Is one of you going to officially adopt her? I only ask because I want her to have a somewhat normal life and having two uncles and some unrelated woman she thinks is her mother is not exactly normal."

Hunter ran a hand through his hair, "We've actually been talking a lot about this."

"I want Hunter to adopt her." Paul said. "We want her to have a normal life too, and since he was her father's brother it only seems right that he steps into the role as her Father."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked as I looked back and forth between the two of them.

Paul nodded, "I'm sure. Besides I can be her awesome Uncle Paul who she tells that her Dad sucks."

The two of them exchanged a smile before I spoke up again, "What about me though? She thinks I'm her Mom."

Paul chuckled, "It's not like it's a horrible thing for her to think, Sadie. Besides, it may be truer than you think."

My brows wrinkled in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"What does what mean?" Paul asked stupidly.

"It means that its time Paul went on patrol." Hunter spoke up with a curious edge to his voice.

Paul sent the two of us a mischievous smile before he stood up and headed towards the door, taking off his shirt in the process. My eyes lingered on his muscled back for only a moment before I turned to look at Hunter curiously. He had a strange look on his face, kind of like he was thinking and angry at the same time.

"You alright?"

"I thought I would go into Seattle tomorrow, would you and Grace like to join me?"

"Yeah of course! It'll be her first trip into the big city; remind me to bring my camera!"

It wasn't until I was lying in bed a few hours later that I started to contemplate why Hunter had asked me to come with him to Seattle. We were friends, that I knew for sure, but was he hinting at something else with his trip? Stupid Paul, thanks to him I now have to deal with a restless and questioning mind when I want nothing more than to just sleep.

* * *

Grace looked absolutely adorable once I had her all dressed and ready for our day in Seattle. It wasn't raining outside and the weather channel had promised only a slight chance of rain, but I still pulled out her daisy covered rain coat. It was so adorable, as was her little skirt, leggings and her long sleeved shirt with a puppy on it.

As for myself I threw on some jeans and a long sleeved shirt, pinned my hair away from my face and put on a little makeup before I headed down the stairs with Grace on my hip where Hunter was waiting for the two of us.

"Do you have your camera?" Hunter asked as he took Grace from my arms and started to strap her into her carrier.

"Yup." I replied as I shoved a few last minute things in the diaper bag.

Once I was sure I had everything that Grace would possibly need I shrugged my own raincoat on, threw the diaper bag and my purse over my shoulder and turned to Hunter with an 'I'm ready' look. His eyes looked me up and down and he smiled before he opened the door and led the way out to his car with Grace in hand.

"So what are we going to do today?"

"It's a surprise."

And it definitely would be a surprise since my knowledge of the city of Seattle was based on from what I had seen in movies and TV. It rained a lot, and there was a huge building with a pointy top called the Space Needle…that was the extent of my knowledge.

One long car ride later with a somewhat fussy baby that was only calmed by me singing some absurd Disney song and we had arrived in Seattle at the Aquarium. I practically squealed in delight when I read the sign and turned to Hunter with a huge smile.

"I love Aquariums!"

"I know, your sister told me." Hunter chuckled before he got out of the car and opened the trunk to get Grace's stroller while I pulled Grace out of the back of the car. Once we had her situated and sucking on a pacifier we headed for the entrance.

The place wasn't too busy since it was a school day, but I knew that as the day went on it would only get busier, just as it had the last time I went to an Aquarium; Shed Aquarium in Chicago to be exact. That day seemed so long ago; Spring Break of our senior year of high school. Initially we had felt sort of lame going to an aquarium with our Mom on our Spring Break, but once we were there we loved every minute of it.

Once our tickets were bought I immediately whipped out my camera and put it on the museum setting while Hunter pushed the stroller alongside me chuckling all the while.

"Quit laughing at me." I said and stuck my tongue out.

"I can't help it; you're like a kid in a candy store."

"That reminds me, we have to go to the gift shop before we leave!"

Many hours later the three of us emerged from the aquarium with very different expressions on our faces. Grace was asleep and clutching her new stuffed otter that we had to buy after seeing her reaction to the otters, Hunter looked harassed but still had a small smile on his face, and I knew I was beaming.

"Do you have anything else planned?" I asked excitedly.

Hunter yawned, "I thought we'd go to dinner before we headed back."

"Sounds good." I replied as I worked on pulling Grace from the stroller without waking her or dislodging her Otter, which I had named Oliver, from her chubby little arms.

He drove us to a little restaurant by the coast that he insisted was a personal favorite of his. Once we stepped inside it was easy to see and smell why. Not only did it smell delicious in the place, but it an authentic nautical feel to it. There was also the very friendly service.

"Your daughter is adorable." Our waitress remarked after she took our drink orders.

Grace stared up at the blonde with wide brown eyes, Oliver the Otter still clutched in her little arms. She really was adorable. Once again I was reminded of the day at the mall with my sister; the day that everyone seemed to think Grace was my daughter despite the obvious differences. This time was different though, with Hunter sitting across from me it was easy to assume that she was my daughter. The blonde waitress turned her attention away from Grace then and I saw her take a look at our left hands.

I didn't want her to get the wrong idea about me so I began to say: "She's n-"

"Thank you." Hunter smiled, effectively cutting me off.

After she walked away I gave Hunter a look, "Now she thinks we had her out of wedlock!"

"Well, what we do is none of her business." He replied calmly as he started to examine his menu. "What's so wrong with her thinking that anyway?"


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit Forever the Sickest Kids**

**I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while! These last three weeks have been crazy busy, and I'm sure that things are pretty much going to stay the same until my finals are over. However, after attending my cousin's wedding this weekend, I was hit with a bit of inspiration that I plan to use to finish this story. I'm not sure how many chapters will follow this, but it definitely will not be over five. Thanks for the reviews despite the fact I haven't been the best updater : )

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"_She was one the only for me,_

_I made mistakes but she always forgave me_

_She was the one, my only obsession"_

**Tough Love

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**

In the weeks that followed the trip to Seattle I definitely noticed a change in the relationship between myself and Hunter. We were both nervous around each other and there were moments when I was sure he was going to say something, but he ended up walking away. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't like it. I missed the way things were.

However, after a few weeks back in La Push the reason for Paul's huge grin finally became clear. One day I had been working on some of Paul's receipts with Grace on the floor playing with her new sea otter, Oliver.

_Abandoning the row of numbers I had been adding up I stood up from my chair and headed towards the front door, glancing in on Grace on my way. She was currently sitting on the floor gumming Oliver the Otter, so with a smile I proceeded to the front door._

_I really had no idea who would show up at this time of day. I knew that Cady had a doctor's appointment today and Mom was supposed to be going with her, so whoever was behind that door was anyone's guess._

_But when I opened the door I had definitely had not been expecting to see Roxy on the other side with an anxious smile on her face._

"_Hey." She said nervously. "Is Paul here?"_

_I smiled, "He'll be home in a few hours. What brings you here?"_

_Roxy smiled and I finally noticed what was behind her, a huge suitcase. _

"_I left my practice, packed up my apartment and shipped my stuff here before I got on a plane."_

If Hunter and I had thought Paul was happy before he was absolutely ecstatic now that Roxy moved in. For a week Roxy stayed around during the day while the boys were at work, which was a little odd for me, but after a week Hunter got her in at the hospital as his partner.

Although everyone was happy, the house was a little crowded, even with Roxy and Paul sharing his master suite. And since the house was crowded that meant that messes seemed to be spread throughout the house for me to clean up.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped and the clothes that I had gathered in my hands fell down on the carpeted floor of Hunter's room. I admit that I was probably in the wrong by being in his room, but he had left the door open which showed me the nice view of his huge pile of clothes in the corner. I was doing laundry anyway, and just knowing the pile was there was bugging the hell out of me.

With the clothes back on the floor, I turned to look at Hunter with a sheepish smile on my face. He didn't seem angry, in fact he looked amused. I started to open my mouth to let him know just what I had been doing when he stepped farther into his room and shut the door behind himself. My words froze on the tip of my tongue; what was he doing?

"Snooping around are you?" Hunter asked with a grin as he moved closer to me.

I rolled my eyes, "In a pile of dirty clothes?"

"Maybe I hide my porn in there." He chuckled.

"You better not; I eradicated that crap from the house months ago."

He was still moving closer to me slowly as I stood there frozen in place by the pile of dirty clothes.

"I haven't used porn since I was a teenager, so don't worry. However, you might find some unpleasant socks in that pile." Hunter smiled.

"Well, that's why I was gathering up your clothes, to wash them."

He finally halted in his advance, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to look up into his warm brown eyes. He was smiling down at me and he lifted his hand as my heart started to beat erratically out of my chest. Instead of touching me like I had thought he was going to, he pulled a stray sock off of my shoulder and threw it back into the pile.

"Paul's been working on my brother's old house." He stated.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it's ready for me to move into. Paul needs his space with Roxy here. So, do you and Grace want to move in with me?"

My heart started up where it had left off when I thought he was going to touch my face and I swallowed nervously before I met his anxious gaze.

"Do you want me to move in with you?" I asked calmly despite the fact that it felt like my heart was about to beat out of my chest.

"Yes, I do."

"What does that mean for my job?"

Hunter smiled and I jumped slightly when I felt his hands settle on my hips. All of my attention was focused on the feeling of his warm hands gripping my hips so I didn't notice his face was moving closer to mine until his lips were hovering right over mine.

"You can still be Paul's finance lady." He whispered against my lips before he finally settled his lips over mine.

I was frozen for only a second before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. Why had I wanted just our friendship when there could be this too? I hated to admit it, but Paul was right and I was sure he would be more than happy to be able to gloat about it.

When our lips finally separated, Hunter placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before he moved back far enough so we could look into each other's eyes.

"I've wanted to do that for a while." He sighed.

"Sorry I made things awkward these past few weeks."

He smiled, "It's alright. So does this mean you'll move in with me as my girlfriend?"

My heart skipped a beat at that word and I felt myself smile wide, "Yes."

* * *

"I would just like to take this moment to say that I told you so."

I quickly set down my box full of books on my bed in my new room across town before I turned and hit Paul on the arm. Paul laughed as he set down my bookshelf in the corner of the room and then turned to me with a big smile.

"You've said that about ten times already, Paul."

"And it hasn't gotten old yet."

"That's because it's the one time you have been right about something." I laughed to which he scowled.

His scowl only lasted a minute before he pulled me into his arms for a big bear hug. He crushed me for about a second before he released me.

"So, I'm going to make another call which you will probably deny and then have me be right in the end." Paul began. "The way I see it, this is going to be permanent. Give it a few months and you will be Grace's legal mother."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Hunter is going to wait to adopt her until you two are married, so the two of you can together."

"Married?! We just became an official couple!"

Paul smirked, "Go ahead, deny it. But you'll see I was right; it won't take long, you two were friends first so you pretty much know everything there is to know about each other."

"What are you two talking about?" Hunter asked as he walked into the room with Grace on his hip and Roxy behind him. I quickly shot Paul a warning look before I walked over with a sweet smile and took Grace from Hunter.

"Oh nothing." I lied sweetly. "I was telling Paul that he's an idiot."

"Funny, I thought I was the one calling you an idiot." Paul remarked as he moved across the room to slip his arm around Roxy's waist.

"So, are you two going to leave for your date now?" Roxy asked as she held out her arms for Grace.

Tonight was to be our first official date and Paul and Roxy were going to watch Grace here at the new house so Grace could adapt. Even though this had been the house she had been brought home from the hospital to, she had spent most of her short life in Paul's house.

"Yeah, now get out so I can get ready."

"No, you're fine in what you're in." Hunter insisted.

I looked down at what I was wearing; jeans and a hoodie, not exactly what I considered to be date wear. He was dressed the same as I was and judging by the look on his face I doubted he was about to go change either. So instead of saying anything else I shrugged, kissed Grace goodbye and followed Hunter out of the house.

I headed for his car, but stopped when I noticed he was walking the other way. He laughed as I ran to catch up with him, but stopped when I slipped my cold hand inside his warm one.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The cliffs."

"Are you going to throw me off?" I teased.

"If you're not careful."

It only took us about five minutes to walk to the cliffs and when we arrived there was a little blanket spread out with a picnic basket to anchor it down. I smiled up at Hunter before I eagerly plopped down on the blanket and waited for him to join me. Once he was on the blanket too he opened the basket to reveal our dinner of salami sandwiches and sun chips.

"I figured anything else would get too cold out here." Hunter shrugged as he handed me my share of food.

"I love salami." I assured him before I took a bite out of my sandwich.

We spent the next two hours by the cliffs, laughing, snuggling close for warmth as the wind picked up and kissing every once and a while. I felt carefree and dare I say happy for once in my life. There were no secrets between the two of us; we had already shared the darkest stuff within ourselves as friends. It was easy, and it felt right.

* * *

It didn't take us long to settle into the house that once belonged to Grace's parents. It was easy and perhaps a bit dangerous, but instead of trying to deny it to myself anymore I openly acted like Grace's mother.

While Hunter was gone during the day I did what I normally did except I referred to myself as Mommy when I spoke to Grace. It was a dangerous thing to do, but I felt better about it once Hunter started to work on getting her to call him 'Daddy'.

As the months passed by lots of things were happening. Cady's belly was growing by the day, her son nestled safely inside, Hunter and Roxy were doing well at the hospital, and Paul and Roxy had announced their engagement as well as the due date for their baby.

"So when will we be hearing an announcement from you?" Cady asked with a sly smile as she absently stroked a hand over her large belly. She was due in three weeks and couldn't be more excited. In fact the only person that was more excited than her was Seth.

"If you're thinking I'm going to have a birth announcement you're wrong." I blushed.

"You mean you guys haven't?"

I shook my head as my face reddened, "We just started saying 'I love you' for goodness sakes."

It was true. It had taken a long time and even then I had not been the first one to say anything; I was too afraid. Obviously I had not grown up with the best example of love, and I wanted more than anything not to mess up what Hunter and I had. Of course he called me silly and professed his love for me.

"Well, what about a wedding? The sooner you guys get Grace's adoption in the works the better." Cady stated.

She was right about that although it would be a bit easier than normal given the fact that Hunter is biologically related to her.

"I think Hunter and I both have an unspoken agreement to take things slow, Cady. I haven't been in the best condition for the last sixteen years if you remember."

Cady nodded solemnly, "Oh I remember, that's why I'm so happy to see you happy."

"I am, Cady, I am."


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the things you don't recognize! Song credit to We the Kings**

**This is the last chapter. I have to say that I am glad it is over. In the past few months I've had no drive for this story but I knew I had to finish it. Luckily last night the effects of my pain killers and this cold I have strangely gave me the inspiration to finish this story for good. I know this wasn't my best story, but I think that's because I don't enjoy writing about this scenario anymore. I doubt that I will have any other stories posted any time soon since it is so close to the end of the school year.**

**Thank you so much to the people that have stuck around to read this story and to those of you who have reviewed. You guys are the only reason I didn't abandon this story : )

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"_I wanna be the picture on your wall,_

_I wanna chase you around until we fall,_

_I wanna be the one you write about,_

_I wanna be the one who never let you down,_

_But right now I feel like I am losing control, losing control_

_Hey hey hey hey, my head is spinning cause of you_

_Hey hey hey hey, you've no clue what you do _

_You're the storm, let it rain_

_You've got eyes like a hurricane_

_Hey hey hey hey you've no clue what you do to me."_

**What You Do To Me

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**Epilogue**

It was yet another rainy day in La Push; the perfect day to clean the house. Of course that was not what I ended up doing. After about ten minutes of dusting the bookshelf extensively I found an old album, an album that I hadn't looked at in quite a while.

It was one of those huge picture albums; wide, with a thick binding and sticky pages that allowed you to place the pictures in wherever you wanted. This kind of album had always been the album of choice for my Mom and the preference had passed down to me as well. It certainly wasn't as neat and organized as scrapbooking, but when had my life ever been those two things?

The cover creaked as I opened the album, revealing the first picture. It was a large picture that took up most of the page, with only three words and a date near the bottom. I smiled down at the image of myself and my husband of twenty five years and was lost in my memories…

_A beautiful day for a wedding was what my Mother had announced that morning after she waltzed into the room Cady and I had shared on my last night as a single woman. Of course it hadn't been a traditional girl's night with little Harry in the crib next to the bed, but it was perfect for the two of us. _

"_Are you two just going to laze away in bed or start getting ready?" Mom asked impatiently before she gently picked Harry up out of the crib with her special smile reserved specifically for her first grandchild._

"_The wedding isn't for another four hours, Mom." Cady sighed._

"_Yes, well…with hair, makeup, actually getting dressed, and pictures that time sure does fly." Mom argued while she gently cradled Harry to her chest._

_Cady and I exchanged a well placed eye roll. There was no use fighting her; we'd gone through this once before on Cady's wedding day and now it was my turn. We'd let her run the show for the next four hours, but once the actual ceremony began it was all about Hunter and I._

_I smiled at the thought of my future husband. By this time tomorrow I would be a married woman. My smile grew even bigger at that thought and all the other 'thoughts' that came along with it._

_It had taken us a while to make it to this point, mostly due to my hesitation. My childhood and experiences with my Father had taken a toll on me. Hunter understood and didn't dare propose to me until we had dated for a while. He probably would have waited longer if we weren't so eager to adopt Grace._

"_Are you done daydreaming?" Cady asked with a knowing smile._

_I simply smiled back and continued to smile through my Mom's antics until I was finally walking down the aisle towards Hunter. He was smiling back at me and eagerly grasped my hands in his when I finally reached his side. A spared a glance to where Grace sat in Roxy's lap in the front row and blew a kiss before I turned back to Hunter._

"_Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…"_

After I had passed through the three pages of wedding pictures I finally came across the first picture of us on our honeymoon. Hunter had surprised me and taken me to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He had never been before, but after I had filled him in on years of trips to the UP, he decided it was something he wanted to experience for himself with a true Michiganian.

The picture was of the two of us at the beach in St. Ignace, the Mackinaw Bridge rising up behind us against the blue sky. The two of us were smiling at the camera, his arm wrapped around my waist and my head against his shoulder. Underneath the picture I simply had written: Mr. and Mrs. Richards.

_Hunter shivered as a gust of wind hit us as the man who had taken our picture walked back towards his waiting family. I chuckled at his discomfort and made a show of snuggling into my windbreaker. I had warned him that Michigan weather changed in an instant, especially in the UP. Earlier today it had been sunny and in the seventies and now it was overcast and in the fifties._

"_Don't say I didn't warn you." I laughed as I ran a finger across the goose flesh on his forearms._

"_You could warm me up." Hunter grinned and wrapped his arms around me tightly._

_I giggled at that, yes I actually giggled, and looked up at him flirtatiously, "Or we could go back to our hotel room." _

"_And you can warm me up there."_

We had missed Grace while away on our honeymoon but as soon as we returned we had signed all the papers that made Grace legally ours. And just like that I was officially a Mom without the discomfort of childbearing and delivering. It wasn't a hard adjustment at all; we'd been living as a family for a while now and nothing changed besides our legal status.

I smiled as I turned the page to Grace's favorite picture. It was easy to see why; it was absolutely adorable. At two years old she was able to grasp the fact that something was happening and it was easy to see that she was really excited about that something. In fact she liked to share it with everyone, even random people that passed by in the store.

"_Hey Roxy." I smiled as I greeted the red head._

_Roxy looked up from where she was examining something on her son, Tobin's, face. When she saw Grace and I walk through her screen door she smiled and held out a free arm for Grace._

"_How's my favorite niece today?" she asked as she hugged my little girl._

"_Good! Tobin!"_

_Roxy chuckled, "Tobin has a little scratch on his face from playing a little too roughly with his puppy. Aunt Roxy is going to have to have a nice long talk with your Uncle Paul about that."_

"_Uh oh." I laughed._

_Roxy had been less than pleased when Paul had brought home an adorable chocolate lab puppy for Tobin's first birthday. Hershey was a well behaved dog, but while he was still a puppy he had a tendency to play a little too roughly with Tobin._

_Almost as if he knew we were talking about him Hershey darted into the room and started to circle around Grace excitedly. The toddler started to giggle uncontrollably which then caused her baby cousin to start babbling to his Mother. _

"_I want puppy, Momma!" Grace declared as she bent down and stroked Hershey's velvety ears carefully._

"_Actually Mommy has something much better than a puppy." I stated._

_Roxy turned to me with round eyes, "Are you?"_

"_Pregnant?" I filled in for her. "Yes, I am."_

"_Have you told Hunter?!" She asked eagerly as she wrapped me in a one armed hug._

"_No, I just told my sister before we came over here." I replied. "And then once I tell Hunter tonight we can explain it to Grace."_

_Roxy smiled, "I'm so happy for you, Sadie. Congratulations."_

"_Thanks Roxy."_

_Once dinner had been eaten and Grace had been put to bed after two bed time stories and a long drawn out hug from her Daddy, the two of us finally had some time to ourselves. I smiled at Hunter as I grabbed his hand and led him into our bedroom._

"_You look awfully pleased with yourself." Hunter commented as he played with the hem of my shirt._

"_I've got something to tell you."_

_He sighed, "Don't tell me you want to get Grace a puppy."_

"_Better."_

"_What's better than a puppy for a little girl? A pony?"_

_I rolled my eyes, "No, you doofo. I'm pregnant."_

"_Oh!"_

"_Yes, oh!"_

_We stared at each other for a minute before Hunter's face broke out into a brilliant smile and he wrapped me up tightly in his arms._

"_When?" He asked._

"_In seven months."_

_He finally released me only to pull me in again, only this time his lips descended down onto mine. When the two of us finally pulled apart we were breathless._

"_I love you, Sadie."_

"_I love you too."_

The picture in question was of little Grace with her ear pressed against my burgeoning belly, my smiling face turned towards my husband who stood on the other side of the camera. A month after that picture was taken I gave birth to twin boys, just as I thought I always would. We found out early on that I was having twins and we spent the next eight months getting ready for them. The boys arrived a month early just as Cady and I had, but were perfectly healthy for as small as they were.

After about a month it became clear to all of us that they were identical. Cady and Seth had laughed hysterically at me, Mom had given me a reassuring kiss on the forehead, Roxy and Paul had just smiled, and Hunter simply looked back and forth between our boys.

The next picture was of the two of them, taken on their first birthday. By that time it was painfully obvious just how identical they were, but already they had distinctive personalities.

"_Where are my birthday boys?" Mom asked as she entered the boy's rooms with Grace on her heels._

_I had just finished dressing the two of them in little vests sets, not identical ones thank you very much, and turned towards my Mom with both of them in my arms. It was a little difficult to hold them both at the same time now given the fact that they were pretty big boys, so I was thankful when she reached out and took one of them into her arms._

"_Now let me guess…this has to be Alex."_

_I smiled and looked down at the real Alex in my arms, "Nope, that's Nathan."_

"_How can you tell?" She asked skeptically._

_I rolled my eyes, "First of all, I'm their mother. Secondly, Nathan has a freckle at the tip of his nose and thirdly Alex is the smiley one. Even Grace can tell them apart, Mom."_

"_You don't have to mean about it." She pouted._

"_I'm teasing."_

The picture was of the five of us; Hunter, Grace, the boys, and I. It was taken in the living room. Hunter and I sat side by side with a boy in each of our arms and Grace was clinging on to her Dad's other side.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

I looked up from the picture of the five of us and into my daughter's eyes. I beckoned her to join me on the couch and flipped the next few pages until I came across another, newer, picture of me with a large belly.

"That was you." I smiled at my youngest.

"So that's what you've been in here doing; getting nostalgic." She smirked as she turned the next page to see herself reflected back to her on the page. Of course she was only a few hours old on the page. She was cradled in my arms as all the other kids crowded around the bed trying to see their new baby sister.

"_What should we name her?" I asked my three older children, looking forward to and dreading their answers at the same time. Hunter and I had never discussed names throughout the whole pregnancy, mostly due to the fact that we didn't want to know what we were having. The whole pregnancy was a surprise actually, but a good done at that._

_Grace was nine and the boys already six! I could hardly believe it and yet here I was holding another one that would only grow up in a blink of an eye just as the rest of them had._

"_Destiny." Grace sighed wistfully._

"_Ew!" Alex and Nathan chorused and I had to agree with them. There was no way this child of mine was a 'Destiny'. _

_Grace stuck her tongue out at them and crossed her arms, "Fine, you two think of something then."_

"_Bob." Alex said eagerly._

_Hunter laughed from his position in the chair next to my bed, "The baby is a girl, Alex, and Bob is a boy's name."_

_Alex crossed his little arms and turned to his brother expectantly. Nathan looked back and forth between Hunter and me and simply shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'don't look at me'._

_Finally I had an idea, "Let's name her after your Mother."_

_Hunter smiled, "Really?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Margaret it is then."_

"You guys were going to let them name me?!" Maggie cried out indignantly after I finished my little story. "Destiny? Bob?"

I laughed, "They were nine and six, cut them a break."

She quirked a brow at me, which reminded me very much of myself, "Yet again I have to ask why you were going to let them name me?"

"Well, we didn't obviously." I pointed out. "It was mostly a way to make them feel included. Your brothers had been the babies for six years; they were a little resistant to the idea of a baby there for a while. But they loved you once you were here."

I smiled at the thought of my twenty three year old sons; they would do anything for their baby sis, Maggie. Most of which annoyed the hell out of my seventeen year old daughter; like scaring away potential boyfriends; as if her Uncle and Father didn't do that enough.

"When are they supposed to get here anyway?" Maggie asked as I closed the photo album.

Today was our weekly family dinners which meant that my two always hungry boys would be coming home with loads of laundry to do. The two of them were both working in the city and sharing an apartment, an apartment that I had no desire to see anytime soon if I wanted to avoid a heart attack.

But today was also our first family dinner since Grace had gotten back on her honeymoon with her new husband, Luke. I knew that I was excited to see what they had brought back from Hawaii for us, and I could tell that Maggie was eager to talk to her big sis about her new love interest. Hopefully the boys didn't find out about that until after they'd gone back to the city.

"Mom! We're here!" Alex's voice yelled from the front of the house.

"Yeah and we brought laundry, hope you don't mind!" Nathan chimed in.

Maggie and I walked out of the living room and into the hallway where the two of them were kicking off their shoes.

"What is that smell?" Maggie asked her nose crinkled in disgust.

Alex grinned, "That baby sis is the smell of man!"

"Got that right, Alex." Nathan laughed as he waved his shoe in front of Maggie's face. Without missing a beat, Maggie simultaneously reached out and slapped both of her brother's on the arms before she stormed up the stairs and to her room.

"Ah, some things never change."

"It's good to be home." Alex finished with a nod to his brother.

"Is this any way to greet your Mother?"

"Of course not Mom!" They chorused before the two of them engulfed me in a big group hug.

"Hey let me in on that action!" Hunter laughed as he walked through the front door behind the boys. A second later Hunter had joined our hug fest and the four of us pulled away laughing.

"Start your laundry before Grace and Luke get here." Hunter ordered them before he slipped an arm around my waist and turned me to face him. I looked up into his eyes with a smile on my face; a smile that hadn't changed in twenty five years of marriage.

"I missed you today." He whispered seductively.

"I missed you more." I whispered back as I reached up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his.

"Oh jeez guys, get a room!"

The two of us pulled away to face our oldest child and our son in law, Luke who stood in the doorway with smiles on their faces and a few bags in hand.

"Happy to see me?" Grace asked slyly.

"Of course we are!" I beamed before I pulled the two of them into a big hug.

"We just got back from visiting the graveyard. We left them some flowers." Grace stated as her hand sought out the comfort of Luke's own. He grasped her hand firmly in his and smiled down at her briefly before they turned their attention back on the two of us.

We had made it a point to sit all four of the kids down separately once they were old enough to understand the circumstances of Grace's birth and adoption. We'd told Grace when she turned ten years old and she had handled it pretty well. After that it had become a tradition for her to take a weekly visit to the graveyard to visit her birth parents with either Hunter or I in tow. The other children had been accepting as well, while they understood that Grace was really their cousin that didn't stop them from treating her like their older sister. For that both Hunter and I were happy.

"What is that smell?" Luke asked suddenly.

"My brothers."

The two of them left us to greet the other kids, leaving Hunter and I alone once again in the hallway. Hunter pulled me close again, his hands on my hips, as he stared down into my eyes.

"How happy would you say you are right now?" He asked; a question I hadn't heard him ask in quite a long time.

"I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am."

Hunter grinned, "Now that's what I was aiming for all those years ago."

**End**


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